Australia shares likely to start week lower; New Zealand down

Australian shares are expected to slip on Monday weighed down by mining stocks hit by the weakness in copper and iron ore prices.

Three-month LME copper fell 0.3pc on Friday, while the most-traded iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange for September delivery erased early gains to close unchanged at 873 yuan ($127.02) a tonne .

The local share price index futures fell 0.5pc or 30 points to 6,604, a 92.5-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark fell 0.3pc on Friday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose/fell 0.1pc at 2211 GMT.