News: WBC Australia shares set to slip, Westpac profit misses forecasts

MELBOURNE, May 2 (Reuters) - Australian shares are poised to fall on Monday after Chinese manufacturing data for April cast doubt over the strength of a pick-up in the economy and no.3 lender Westpac Banking Corp (WBC) reported weaker-than-expected half year earnings.

Local share price index futures YAPcm1 fell 0.1 percent ahead of the Chinese data and Westpac's results to 5,225.0. The benchmark rose 0.5 percent last Friday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) slipped 0.2 percent to 6,804.76 in early trade.

Westpac reported a 3 percent rise in first-half cash profit, missing forecasts as its bad debt charges rose. It said it would pay an interim dividend of 94 cents a share, in line with analysts' forecasts.

Telstra Corp (TLS) shares may rise after it said it would return at least A$1.5 billion ($1.1 billion) to shareholders by December on top of its annual dividend, using cash from the sale of most of its stake in China's Autohome Inc.

Virgin Australia (VAH) may come under pressure after flagging it would cut capacity in the current quarter, blaming weak consumer demand and uncertainty over an upcoming federal election, just as rival Qantas Airways (QAN) did a month ago.