SYDNEY, Feb 3 (Reuters) - New Zealand stocks fell on Wednesday while their Australian counterparts are set to follow suit, tracking a negative lead from Wall Street with weakness in oil prices likely to hit energy shares hard.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 shed 35.81 points, or 0.58 percent, to 6,144.27 in early trade.
Pointing to a soft open, Australia's share price index futures YAPcm1 dropped 1.4 percent to 4,873.0, a 120.3-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO . The benchmark closed 1.0 percent lower on Tuesday.
U.S. crude CLc1 skidded 5.5 percent as hopes of a deal to curb one of the worst supply gluts in history continued to fade. For a summary of overnight action across global markets, click on
AU/CALL For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, click on
PRESS/AUB
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