MELBOURNE: Australian shares may struggle to extend gains to a seventh straight day on Monday after gold and copper prices retreated from recent highs, potentially taking the steam out of mining shares, and as investors ponder the impact of turmoil in Libya and the Middle East, Europe's debt crisis, and Japan's recovery efforts.
Share price index futures fell 0.2 percent to 4,764.0, still a 21.4-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index.
The index rose 0.9 percent Friday, its sixth straight day of gains, to close above 4,700 for the first time since Japan was devastated by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake.
New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose 0.3 percent to 3,398.6 in early trade.
Wall Street advanced for a third straight day on Friday, giving the S&P its best weekly performance since early February, but volume remained light as global uncertainty persisted.
Oil prices edged lower but ended higher on the week as protests in Yemen, Syria, Bahrain and in Saudi Arabia kept concerns about oil supply in focus. US May crude futures fell 20 cents to settle at $105.40 a barrel.
Copper ended lower on Friday, extending a phase of consolidation after achieving two-week highs. A drop in US consumer sentiment to its lowest level in more than a year doused cold water on the economically-sensitive industrial metal's mid-week surge. London Metal Exchange (LME) three-month copper fell $30 to close at $9,685 a tonne. Australian gold miners such as Newcrest Mining may back away from recent highs after bullion reversed gains in high volume on Friday, losing nearly 2 percent following a brief rally to an all-time high $1,447.40 on Thursday.
In company news on Monday, iron ore miner Fortescue Metals Group is considering a dual listing in Hong Kong to give it access to new sources of capital as it embarks on a massive expansion of capacity, a newspaper reported on Monday.
Farm chemicals maker Nufarm's is due to report first-half profit on Monday. The company, one-fifth owned by Japan's Sumitomo Chemicals , is refocusing its business following a string of profit warnings, two badly timed equity raisings, and a debt downgrade to junk status that hammered its shares last year. Chief Financial Officer Kevin Martin is stepping down this week.
Global miner Rio Tinto's late Monday deadline of holding more than 50 percent of shares in Riversdale Mining was down to the wire, with still no word on whether Riversdale's two biggest shareholders, India's Tata Steel and Brazil's CSN , will sell any of their shares.
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