Australian shares are likely to fall on Tuesday, tracking a weak lead from Wall Street peers overnight that declined as the global energy crunch clouded investor sentiment before the earnings season.

The local share price index futures fell about 0.4%, a 62.8-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close.

The benchmark closed down 0.3% on Monday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index was down about 0.2% at 12,998.17 points in early trade.