Australia shares set to start in negative territory, NZ falls

Australian shares are set to open in negative territory on Wednesday, driven by expected losses in the country's prominent gold and energy sectors due to weaker commodity prices.

The local share price index futures fell 0.4%, a 27.3-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark ended up 0.02% on Tuesday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.1% to 13,304.51 points in early trade.