Australian shares are expected to open higher on Wednesday, continuing their run of alternate risk-on and risk-off trades on mixed headlines of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, expected US interest rate hikes, and falling commodity prices.

The local share price index futures rose 0.6%, a 43.6-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark closed 0.7% lower on Tuesday, after advancing 1.2% the prior day.

New Zealand’s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.8% to 11,896.81 by 2132 GMT.