Australia shares seen dropping on Italian uncertainty

MELBOURNE, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to
open lower on Tuesday as investor sentiment is hit by worries of
renewed euro zone instability as election projections show Italy
could end up with a split parliament.

* Stock index futures fell 1.1 percent to 4,988.0,
a 67.8-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index
. The benchmark rose 0.8 percent on Monday, keeping the
market close to a 4-1/2 year high hit last week.
* New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index fell 0.4
percent to 4,211.6 in early trade.
* U.S. stocks fell on Monday, reversing course from earlier
gains as elections in Italy stoked concerns a divided parliament
could disrupt the country's fiscal reforms and the euro zone's
stability.
* Copper rebounded from a six-day losing streak, although
gains were kept in check by slower growth of manufacturing
activity in top consumer China, where post-holiday buying has
yet to pick-up aggressively.
* Top insurer QBE Insurance Group reported an 8
percent rise in net profit to $761 million and said it expected
to achieve an underlying insurance profit margin of 11 percent
in 2013, up from 8 percent in 2012.
* Atlas Iron reported a first-half underlying
profit of A$1 million and said talks on building or accessing a
rail line for its planned iron ore expansion were progressing.
* Private hospital operator Ramsay Health Care
reported a 12 percent rise in core net profit to A$148.2 million
and raised full-year guidance for core profit growth to 13-15
percent from its previous guidance of 10-12 percent.
* Seven Group Holdings reported a 47 percent rise
in first-half profit before one-offs to A$234 million,
underpinned by its WesTrac mining equipment business.

----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2148 GMT ------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 1487.85 -1.83% -27.750
USD/JPY 91.86 -1.65% -1.540
10-YR US TSY YLD 1.8654 -- -0.096
SPOT GOLD 1593.54 0.84% 13.240
US CRUDE 92.12 -1.08% -1.010
DOW JONES 13784.17 -1.55% -216.40
ASIA ADRS 134.26 -1.63% -2.23
-------------------------------------------------------------

* Wall St trips and falls on cloudy Italian election
* Brent up as Chinese imports up, Italy election weighs
* Gold rises on rebound hopes, uncertain Italy election
* Copper snaps losses, China caps gains

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(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by John Mair)