April 18 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to rise on Wednesday, tracking Wall Street, which ended higher on strong quarterly earnings, and ahead of global miner Rio Tinto (LON:RIO)'s RIO.AX quarterly production report.
Rio Tinto's larger rival BHP BHP.AX is scheduled to report production data for the March quarter on Thursday.
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.413 percent, or 24 points, to 5,842, a 0.5-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark closed flat on Tuesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.15 pct at 2208 GMT.