Australia shares set to inch higher at open, NZ slips

Aug 20 (Reuters) - Australian shares are likely to edge higher at open on Wednesday after data on Tuesday showed local consumer sentiment improved sharply in August, while investors globally await U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments later this week.

The local share price index futures YAPcm1 inched up 0.2%, a 21.2-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index .AXJO close. The benchmark closed down 0.7% on Tuesday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index .NZ50 fell 0.1% by 2235 GMT.