By Aaron Saldanha
Nov 3 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to open flat on Friday, tracking stocks on Wall Street after U.S. President Donald Trump named Jerome Powell as the Federal Reserve's new chief and investors assessed the tax cut plan unveiled by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
The bill called for slashing the corporate tax rate to 20 percent from 35 percent but also ending certain tax breaks for companies and individuals.
The dollar index .DXY , a measure of the U.S. dollar's strength against a basket of major currencies, fell to its lowest since Oct. 26 after the proposals were announced. The S&P 500 .SPX ended 0.02 percent higher. .N FRX/
The Australian share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.3 percent, or 19 points, to 5,939, a 0.1 percent or 7.3-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index's .AXJO close. The local benchmark fell 0.1 percent on Thursday.
In the metals space, iron ore on the Dalian exchange DCIOcv1 in China climbed 2.2 percent to 442 yuan a tonne while on the London Metal Exchange, nickel CMNI3 and zinc CMZN3 retreated from multi-year highs. IRONORE/ MET/L
Brent crude LCOc1 closed up 13 cents, or 0.2 percent, at $60.62 per barrel. The benchmark is up by more than a third from its 2017-lows in June. O/R
Meanwhile, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was flat in early trade as gains in consumer staples were negated by losses in utilities.
Homebuilder Fletcher Building FBU.NZ propped the index up the most, trading 0.6 percent higher.
On the other hand, Contact Energy Ltd CEN.NZ fell as much as 0.9 percent and weighed the index down the most.