Australian shares have closed flat, with US casino operator Wynn Resorts' $10 billion takeover offer for Crown Resorts providing most of the day's excitement.
The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed up 0.4 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,221.8 points on Tuesday, while the broader All Ordinaries was up 4.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 6,315.5.
"Dead yesterday, and dead most of today, as far as any sort of macro move," said Nick Twidale, chief operating officer with Rakuten Securities.
"It just seems like we need some sort of catalyst to give the market a shot in the arm."
Crown was the biggest gainer of the day, its shares surging 19.72 per cent to $14.05, a six-month high, after the James Packer-controlled gaming firm confirmed Wynn was discussing a $14.75-per-share proposal in cash and Wynn shares.
Rival Star Entertainment Group also gained on the news, rising 5.42 per cent to $4.47.
The big banks and utilities were down, while energy stocks surged more than two per cent after fighting in Libya drove the price of benchmark Texas crude to a five-month high of $US64.40 a barrel.
Beach Energy jumped 5.45 per cent to $2.13, Oil Search gained 2.26 per cent to $8.15, Santos was up 2.93 per cent to $7.02 after announcing a "significant" gas find in South Australia, and Woodside Petroleum gained 2.72 per cent to $35.50.
All of the big banks were down, with Commonwealth falling 0.59 per cent to $70.25, ANZ down 0.58 per cent to $25.65, NAB down 0.45 per cent to $24.59 and Westpac down 0.15 per cent to $25.84.
The mining sector was overall flat, with BHP gaining 0.35 per cent to $40.03 and South32 falling 2.84 per cent to $3.77. Rio Tinto gained 0.10 per cent to $101.58.
Tech stocks saw gains, with Appen up 4.08 per cent to $23.48 after the machine learning dataset company said its $15 million share purchase price was 3.4 times oversubscribed.
An ANZ-Roy Morgan sentiment survey released before the start of trade suggested consumer confidence fell last week despite tax cuts announced in the federal budget.
Mr Twidale said traders were likely waiting for news on a number of fronts, including Brexit, the US-China trade talks, the European Central Bank and a joint meeting of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank.
"It feels like something's going to happen this week," he said.
The Aussie dollar is buying 71.44 US cents, from 71.26 US cents on Monday.
ON THE ASX:
* The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index was up 0.4 points, or 0.01 per cent, to 6,221.8 points at 1630 AEDT on Tuesday.
* The All Ordinaries was up 4.7 points, or 0.07 per cent, to 6,315.5.
* At 1630 AEDT, the SPI200 futures index was down 13 points, or 0.21 per cent, to 6,197.
CURRENCY SNAPSHOT AT 1630 AEDT:
One Australian dollar buys:
* 71.44 US cents, from 71.26 US on Monday
* 79.55 Japanese yen, from 79.45
* 63.41 euro cents, from 63.29
* 54.57 British pence, from 54.55
* 105.81 NZ cents, from 105.71
