Sept 16 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open slightly lower as investors cautiously await the U.S. Federal Reserve's rate decision, while energy stocks are expected to rise on strong prices after an attack on oil facilities in Saudi Arabia.
The Fed is widely expected to cut rates by a quarter of a percentage point this week. A greater focus will be on clues about if and how much further the Fed will go. attack on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities over the weekend knocked out more than 5% of global crude supply, fuelling expectations that oil prices may rise by $5 to $10 per barrel on Monday. local share price index futures YAPcm1 fell 0.1%, a 2.2-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO . The benchmark rose 0.2% on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.3% in early trade.