Oct 10 (Reuters) - Australian shares were set for a strong start to Thursday, tracking gains on Wall Street as markets hoped for at least a partial trade deal between the United States and China.
However, comments from Beijing about Washington's blacklisting of 28 Chinese companies tempered optimism, with caution expected to set in ahead of senior-level trade talks between the two later in the day.
The local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.6% or 41 points to 6,555.0, a 8.3-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark fell 0.7% on Wednesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 rose 0.2% in early trade.