Australia shares seen higher at open, capped by metals

SYDNEY, March 11 (Reuters) - Australian shares are expected
to open higher on Monday after strong jobs data pushed the Dow
Jones industrial average to another record closing high,
although weaker metal prices could see mining stocks act as a
brake on the market.

* Local share price index futures rose 0.4 percent
to 5,143, a 19.6-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200
index close. The benchmark rose 0.3 percent on Friday.
* New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.2
percent to 4,364.0 in early trade.
* U.S. stocks closed out a historic week with another day of
gains on Friday, as the Dow hit yet another record close on a
payrolls report that surpassed even the most optimistic
forecasts.
* Copper fell due to a stronger dollar, bucking a trend in
surging global equities markets as commodities investors worried
about increasing supply of the metal and lower demand.
* BHP Billiton Ltd said it was concentrating on
about 10 assets as it looked for opportunities to divest to cut
debt and simplify the business.

----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2201 GMT ------------
INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG
S&P 500 1551.18 0.45% 6.920
USD/JPY 95.96 -0.06% -0.060
10-YR US TSY YLD 2.0488 -- 0.000
SPOT GOLD 1577.54 0.00% 0.000
US CRUDE 91.79 -0.17% -0.160
DOW JONES 14397.07 0.47% 67.58
ASIA ADRS 137.57 0.36% 0.49
-------------------------------------------------------------

* Wall St climbs on jobs, S&P up for 9th week out of 10
* Brent crude slips, high-prices RINs boost US gasoline
* Gold flat after payrolls, palladium upon demand hope
* Copper falls on dollar, increasing supply weighs

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(Reporting By Maggie Lu Yueyang; Editing by John Mair)