Australian shares recovered from early falls to close flat on Tuesday, as gains in financials countered losses in retailers, while investors braced for a slew of central bank meetings this week, including by the US Federal Reserve.
The S&P/ASX 200 index settled 0.01% lower at 7,378.40, clawing back from a 0.5% fall in early trade.
Financials rose 0.2%, turning around from a 0.5% early fall, with three of the big four banks climbing between 0.04% and 0.6%. Commonwealth Bank of Australia slipped 0.5%.
Retailers were the biggest losers on the benchmark, falling as much as 6% in their worst session since March 2020.
The plunge came after Woolworths Group, Australia's biggest supermarket chain, forecast lower first-half operating income from its domestic food business. Shares of Woolworths dived 7.7%, while those of rival Coles fell 2.7%.
Miners climbed 0.6% as iron ore prices remained strong amid tight supply. Rio Tinto, BHP Group and Fortescue Metals rose between 0.05% and 1.4%.
The Fed begins its two-day monetary policy meeting later in the day, and it is expected to announce a wrapping up of its bond buying stimulus sooner than previously communicated, potentially setting up earlier interest rate hikes next year.
Mathan Somasundaram, the chief executive officer of Deep Data Analytics, said the United States will move fast and finish tapering by the middle of 2022 as "the only way they can clear the inflation is to strengthen their currency".
In other news, biopharmaceutical giant CSL Ltd announced after market hours the acquisition of Swiss drugmaker Vifor Pharma AG for $11.7 billion in an all-cash deal.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index fell 0.5% to 12,929.59. The benchmark had gained 1.1% in the previous session.
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