ASX 200 flat on retailers; CSL to buy Vifor Pharma for $16.4bn

ASX closes flat on real estate gains and heavy retail losses, CSL to buy Vifor for $16.4bn, Mesoblast tumbles 17.4 per cent, Woolies dives on profit warning and Polynovo soars 15.4 per cent.

Australian shares are set to open lower ahead of key US Federal Reserve meeting. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Jeremy Piper

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Tuesday, December 14. ASX closed flat on a late afternoon rally by real estate and materials stocks. It comes as CSL acquires Vifor Pharma and Mesoblast fell 17.4 per cent on a cancelled deal.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.9 points or 0.01 per cent to closed at 7378.4. The broader All Ordinaries index shed 0.9 points to close at 7698.3.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.9 per cent, the S&P 500 also finished 0.9 per cent lower and tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.4 per cent.

Iron ore climbed 7.4 per cent to $US110.20 a tonne yesterday, while the US Nymex crude price slid 0.5 per cent to $US71.31 a barrel.