Dec 19 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to slip on
Thursday, with an overnight slump in gold and iron prices likely
to hurt the benchmark's heavyweight miners of the commodities.
Chinese iron ore futures slipped nearly 1% overnight on
easing supply concerns, while gold prices also fell amid
strength in the dollar on robust U.S. economic data.
The local share price index futures fell 12 points
or 0.2%, a 5.4-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200
index close. The benchmark closed nearly 0.1% higher on
Wednesday.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50
index rose 0.1% to 11,346.47 by 2103 GMT.
(Reporting by Rashmi Ashok in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
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