Australia shares seen higher after Wall Street rally

SYDNEY, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open

higher on Friday, tracking a surge on Wall Street spurred by

strong industrial corporate earnings.

Mining giant Rio Tinto (Xetra: 855018 - news) will be in focus after its

CEO received an open-ended job contract, ending speculation over

his replacement.

Qantas Airways will hold its AGM at 1100 a.m. local

time (0000 GMT).

* Local share price index futures notched up

17-points to 5,389.0, a 5.8-point premium to the underlying

S&P/ASX 200 index close. The S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO

fell 2.8 points, or 0.1 percent, to 5,383.1 points at the close

of trade on Thursday, snapping seven sessions of gains.

* New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index rose

36.0-points or 0.6 percent to 5,329.0 in early trade.

* U.S. stocks pared gains in late trading after reports that

a New York hospital was running Ebola tests on a healthcare

worker.

* Copper climbed on the back of better than expected euro

zone business sector data and manufacturing grew slightly faster

in top metals consumer China.

------------------ MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2140 GMT ---------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG

S&P 500 1,950.82 1.23 23.710

USD/JPY 108.28 0.03 0.030

10-YR US TSY YLD 2.2766 -- 0.047

SPOT GOLD 1,231.88 -0.70 -8.670

US CRUDE 82.09 1.95 1.570

DOW JONES 16,677.90 1.32 216.58

ASIA ADRS 143.48 0.15 0.22

-------------------------------------------------------------

* Wall St gains on Industrial earnings but ends off highs

* Brent up almost 3 pct, biggest gains since June

* Gold drops as equities surge, physical demand wanes

* Copper gains on China manufacturing data

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(Reporting by Pauline Askin; Editing by Gary Crosse)