Aug 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to open higher on Thursday as material stocks are set to gain from strong commodity prices.
Oil and gold prices climbed on Wednesday while Shanghai rebar steel futures jumped over 2 percent to hover near the highest in four-and-a-half years, a level reached earlier this week. O/R GOL/ IRONORE/
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.14 percent, or 8 points to 5,705, a 60.66-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark rose 0.4 percent on Wednesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.07 percent or 5.38 points to 7794.26 at 2206 GMT