Australia shares seen firmer ahead of rate decision

SYDNEY, Nov 3 - Australian shares are likely to rise on Tuesday, supported by firm oil and metal prices and a positive finish on Wall Street.

Volumes are likely to be lower than usual due to a public holiday in Melbourne where the country's richest horse race, the Melbourne Cup, will be run.

Investors will also be on the alert for Australia's central bank's interest rate decision, due at 2:30 pm .

Analysts expect the bank to raise rates by 25 basis points to 3.5 percent, with some chance of a 50 basis points rise. [ID:nSYD436754]

Resource stocks may get a lift from higher gold, metals and oil prices.

Share index futures <YAPcm1> rose 25 points to 4,568, a 27.6 point premium to the close of the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> at 4,540.4 on Monday.

New Zealand's benchmark NZX 50 index <.NZ50> rose 4.3 points or 0.1 percent to 3,185.99 in early trade. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 2118 GMT ------------

INSTRUMENT LAST PCT CHG NET CHG S&P 500 <.SPX> 1042.88 0.65% 6.690 USD/JPY <JPY=> 90.31 0.71% 0.640 10-YR US TSY YLD <US10YT=RR> 3.4276 -- 0.039 SPOT GOLD <XAU=> 1058.9 1.39% 14.500 US CRUDE <CLc1> 78.11 1.44% 1.100 DOW JONES <.DJI> 9789.44 0.79% 76.71 ASIA ADRS <.BKAS> 120.11 1.03% 1.22 ------------------------------------------------------------- * Wall St ends higher on manufacturing, housing data [.N] * Oil rises on U.S., China manufacturing data [O/R] * Gold price rises as dollar drops [GOL/] * Strong manufacturing data fortifies copper [MET/L]

For a digest of the day's business stories in Australian newspapers, double click on [PRESS/AUB]