News: TCL Australia shares set to open slightly higher, NZ flat

MELBOURNE, Aug 9 (Reuters) - Australian shares are poised to open a touch higher on Tuesday, buoyed by iron ore, metals and oil prices, with results from no.4 lender ANZ and hearing implant maker Cochlear potentially lending support.

Local share price index futures YAPcm1 rose 0.2 percent to 5,494.0, but that was a 43.8-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index (xjo) close. The benchmark climbed 0.7 percent on Monday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (nz50) slipped 1.5 points to 7,346.8 in early trade.

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) reported a 3 percent drop in cash profit for the nine months to June, which one analyst said was weaker than expected. However investors may take comfort in the bank's move to shrink its exposure to riskier institutional loans.

Cochlear (COH) delivered a 30 percent jump in profit for the year to June 2016, at the top end of its guidance, and said it expected profit to grow between 10 and 20 percent this year, in line with broker forecasts.

Toll road operator Transurban (TCL) met forecasts for a full year payout of 45.5 cents a share and flagged it expects to lift its distribution by 11 percent to 50.5 cents a share in the year to June 2017, a touch higher than market forecasts.