Australia shares seen weighed by lower metal prices

MELBOURNE, Oct 31 - Australian shares may be weighed down on Friday by a drop in base metal prices offshore that saw copper fall more than 10 percent.

Gold futures ended 2 percent lower as tumbling crude oil prices and weak U.S. economic data led to worries about a global recession.

Top miner BHP Billiton <BHP.AX> fell to a 2 percent discount to its Australian-listed close of A$28.60 in London trade.

Still, a rise in U.S. stocks, as investors snapped up shares trading near their lowest levels in five years, may help shore up the local market.

Australia's December share price index (SPI) futures <YAPcm1> fell 0.1 percent to 4,014.0, a 0.3 percent premium to the underlying index.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> rose 4 percent on Thursday, extending its rally to a second day. Prior to that the index had fallen for five sessions in a row, losing 12 percent on global recession fears.

According the latest available figures for Thursday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 2.14 percent, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX> rose 2.56 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose 2.49 percent.