News: BEN Australia shares seen with a strong start, NZ stocks rally

SYDNEY, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set for a strong start on Monday tracking a bounce on Wall Street late last week.

Pointing to a firm opening, local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 1.9 percent to 4,785 to sit at a 19.7-point premium to the close of the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) on Friday.

The benchmark shed more than 4 percent last week, its second largest decline this year.

Global miner BHP Billiton (BHP) is expected to open around 6 percent higher after a gain in its U.S. ADRs .

Earnings season is in full swing with Evolution Mining (EVN) and Adelaide Bendigo Bank (BEN) due to release results.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) rallied 1.2 percent in early trade, bouncing off a four-month trough touched on Friday.