ASX 200 closes up by 0.1 per cent as banks and miners drag; Link soars on $3.5bn sale

ASX closes up by 0.1 per cent as Link soars 15 per cent on $3.5bn sale and Charter Hall dives 7.5 per cent on Paradice. Sydney Airport takeover gets FIRB nod and BHP out of Noront race. 

All eyes on the ASX following gains on Wall Street. Picture: David Swift/NCA NewsWire

Welcome to the Trading Day blog for Wednesday, December 22. The ASX  closes flat on big miners and banks. It follows Link surging 15 per cent on its $3.5bn sale and Charter Hall diving 7.5 per cent after taking a mostly scrip funded take in Paradice.

The S&P/ASX 200 index closed up by 0.1 per cent at 7365.8, while the broader All Ordinaries index was up by 0.2 per cent. 

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher by 1.6 per cent and the S&P 500 climbed 1.8 per cent, while tech-heavy Nasdaq jumped 2.3 per cent.

Iron ore climbed 0.5 per cent to $123.8 per tonne. The US Nymex crude price rose 0.5 per cent to $US71.30 barrel.