Australian shares are set to edge higher on Thursday, led by expected gains in tech stocks after the Wall Street sharply rebounded following U.S. Federal Reserve"s hawkish stance on pandemic-era bond purchases. The local share price index futures rose 0.5%, a 22.9-point premium to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index (.AXJO) close. The benchmark closed 0.7% lower on Wednesday. New Zealand"s benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index (.NZ50) rose 0.1% to 12,879.71 points in early trade. Reporting by Tejaswi Marthi in Bengaluru; editing by Diane Craft Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.