Dec 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open lower on Friday in thin holiday trade, with the mining sector seen weighing on the benchmark on lower iron ore prices.
Dalian Commodity Exchange's most-traded iron ore contract DCIOcv1 , with May 2020 expiry, fell as much as 2% on Thursday — its weakest since Dec. 9.
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 fell 0.074%, an 84.2-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark ended up 0.1% on Tuesday, after which the markets were shut until Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 slipped 0.3% to 11,607.31 by 2158 GMT, according to the NZX website.