Wall Street edged marginally higher on Thursday ahead of profit reports due Friday from several big US banks.

The local share price index futures fell 0.2 percent to 5680, a 56.8 point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close.

The benchmark rose 1.1 percent to close at 5,736.80 on Thursday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.005 percent in early trade.