Australian shares are expected to rise on Thursday after a late rally on Wall Street following upbeat housing and durable goods data and a recovery in bank stocks. Financial shares are expected to rise, and gold miners are in for a positive start after gold prices rose sharply on Wednesday as the dollar weakened. Mining stocks could be flat, after copper prices held steady. June share index futures rose 15 points to 3,617.0, a 7.7 point premium to the 3,609.3 close of the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> on Wednesday, when the index finished the day at a 10-week closing high. New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index <.NZ50> was up 0.1 percent in early trade at 2,631.6. Among scheduled events, the Reserve Bank of Australia will give its financial stability review at 11:30 a.m. (0030 GMT), while the RBA's head of economic analysis, Anthony Richards, will speak at an event in Sydney on "The Outlook for the Housing Sector and the Domestic Economy". ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2105 GMT ------------ INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 <.SPX> 813.88 0.96% 7.760 USD/JPY 97.48 -0.44% -0.430 10-YR US TSY YLD 2.7916 -- 0.085 SPOT GOLD 933.1 0.80% 7.450 US CRUDE 52.81 -2.17% -1.170 DOW JONES <.DJI> 7749.81 1.17% 89.84 ASIA ADRS <.BKAS> 92.04 2.09% 1.88 ------------------------------------------------------------- * Wall St rises on improving economic data [.N] * Oil falls over $1 as U.S. inventories swell [O/R] * Gold spikes after Geithner speaks on dollar [GOL/] * Copper steadies on weaker dollar, upbeat data [MET/L]

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