March 12 (Reuters) - Australian shares were likely to open higher on Friday, reflecting overnight gains on Wall Street as a bigger-than-expected fall in weekly jobless claims spurred hopes of a faster economic recovery.
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.6%, a 37-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark closed flat on Thursday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was almost flat by 2120 GMT.