MELBOURNE, March 21 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open higher on Monday after leaders in China, Australia's top trade partner, said over the weekend the economy was showing signs of improvement.
Ahead of those comments, local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.6 percent to 5,193.0, a 9.9-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark closed up 0.3 percent on Friday after touching a 10-week high.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 was steady in early trade, picking up 3.3 points to 6,626.83.
Virgin Australia VAH.AX will be in the spotlight after saying it had lined up a A$425 million ($323 million) loan facility with its four major shareholders: Air New Zealand AIR.NZ , Etihad Airways, Singapore Airlines SIAL.SI and Virgin Group.
Air New Zealand, which is providing nearly a third of the facility for Virgin Australia, rose 0.7 percent in early trade.
For a summary of overnight action across global markets, double click on AU/CALL
For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on PRESS/AUB