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* BHP exits U.S. shale, investors eye share buy-back
* AMP slumps to near 15-year low
* Benchmark set to eke out gains for week
By Nikhil Nainan
July 27 (Reuters) - Australian shares celebrated news onFriday that BHP, the world's biggest miner, had agreed to sellits troubled U.S. shale assets and promised to pass all proceedsto shareholders.
Nearly a year after putting its U.S. shale assets up forsale and after months of market anticipation, BHPagreed to sell the shale oil and gas assets for $10.8 billion,with BP Plc picking up most of them.
BHP shares were up 2.7 percent on Friday to their highest inmore than two months, underscoring the deal'sbetter-than-expected sale price and expectations of a lucrativeshare buy-back.
"I think it (the deal) has certainly increased thelikelihood of a buy-back and buy-backs have certainly beensomething that's been driving markets globally," said DamienRooney, director of equity sales at Argonaut.
The deal ends a disastrous seven-year investment in theshale oil business, which triggered investors, led by U.S. hedgefund Elliott Management, to press BHP to dump its shalebusiness.
The sale news helped drive the S&P/ASX 200 index up0.9 percent to 6,298.4 by 0202 GMT. The benchmark ended slightlydown on Thursday, but was set to eke out gains for the week.
AMP Ltd fell as much as 4.9 percent to its lowestin nearly 15 years after the wealth manager said its underlyingfirst-half profit would be down by A$490 million to A$500million ($361.47 million-$368.85 million), from a year ago.
The fall was due to a company-wide "reset" after a nationalinquiry found several instances of misconduct, AMP said, notingit was targeting a total fiscal 2018 dividend payout at thelower end of its 70-90 percent guidance range.
"(Lower dividend) That's probably why the shareholders whoare pretty beaten up will be really concerned today," Argonaut'sRooney said.
Financials, which account for well over a quarter of thebenchmark, were nonetheless Friday's biggest gainers, withAustralia and New Zealand Banking and NationalAustralia Bank up 1.4 percent and 1.2 percent,respectively.
Treasury Wine Estates was the biggest drag on themain board, and is on track for a third straight session oflosses after falling more than 4 percent.
Earlier in the week, data showed that Australian wineexports to China surged 55 percent for the year ended June 30,which came after Treasury said it had faced customs delays atChinese ports.
Across the Tasman Sea, New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50index gained 0.3 percent, or 29.77 points to 8,963.41.Fisher & Paykel Healthcare Corporation Ltd andFletcher Building supported the gains, rising 0.8percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Milk producer Fonterra said Chairman John Wilsonresigned for health reasons. Its share price was unchanged.For more individual stocks activity click on(Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan, additional reporting byAditya Soni in BengaluruEditing by Eric Meijer)
