Australian shares poised to begin the week lower; NZ inches up

    Jan 13 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open lower
on Monday on the possibility of renewed tensions between the
United States and Iran, while weaker iron ore prices are likely
to pressure heavyweight mining stocks.
    The United States imposed more sanctions on Iran on Friday
in retaliation for its missile attack on U.S. forces in Iraq,
while Washington also turned down an Iraqi request to pull out
its troops.             
    The local share price index futures          fell 0.8% to
6,817, a 112-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index
        close. The benchmark ended up 0.8% to touch a record
high of 6,929 on Friday. 
    New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index         rose 0.1%
or 15.64 points to 11,567.34 by 2131 GMT.
    
       

 (Reporting by Shriya Ramakrishnan in Bengaluru)