Australia shares set to open lower tracking Wall Street slump

Australian shares were set to open slightly lower on Thursday, tracking a weaker performance on Wall Street as tech losses dragged the major indexes down.

The local share price index futures fell 0.2%, a 41.8 point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark rose 0.5% on Wednesday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.4% in early trade.