Australia shares set to open higher on further jobs stimulus, easing virus restrictions

FILE PHOTO: Pedestrians are reflected in a window in front of a board displaying stock prices at the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) in Sydney, Australia, February 9, 2018. REUTERS/David Gray

Australian shares are set to open higher on Monday after the government announced an additional A$1.2 bln ($858.48 mln) in wage subsidies as part of the federal budget, and as authorities in virus hotspot Victoria said the state was on track to lift restrictions further.

The local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 1.2% as at 20:50 GMT, a 61.5-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark fell 1.4% on Friday.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.07% to 11,814.2 in early trade.

Reporting by Soumyajit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis

source: reuters.com