Australia

Australian shares set to rise slightly. Shares on Wall Street were mostly flat but drug-maker Biogen soared 38 per cent on FDA approval of first Alzheimer's drug in 18 years.

The Australian SPI 200 futures contract was up 5 points or 0.07 per cent to 7,286 near 7.10 am Sydney time on Tuesday, suggesting a positive start to trading.

The S&P 500 has ended a languid session slightly in the red, with investors standing by on news of a global minimum corporate tax rate, lingering inflation fears and a lack of market-moving economic news.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 126.15 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 34,630.24; the S&P 500 lost 3.37 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 4,226.52; and the Nasdaq Composite added 67.23 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 13,881.72.

The Australian dollar was buying 77.56 US cents near 7.30 AEST, up from 77.39 at Monday’s close.

Locally, a regulator's crackdown on National Australia Bank and three casino operators has shareholders worried about what penalties may be coming.

The Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) found serious problems in how the bank, Crown Resorts, SkyCity and Star Entertainment try to prevent financial crimes.

The watchdog ruled out fines for NAB, but could force wide-ranging changes to how the companies operate.

Investors sold each of the four companies lower on the market on Monday.

The biggest, NAB, fell 3.16 per cent to $26.64.

Financial shares dropped more than one per cent and were the difference between gains and losses for the market.

The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index closed down 13.5 points, or 0.19 per cent, to 7281.9.

The All Ordinaries closed lower by 11.7 points, or 0.16 per cent, to 7531.6.

Major shares categories such as materials and energy were little changed.

The big miners were mixed.

BHP and Rio Tinto gained less than one per cent. Fortescue dropped 1.39 per cent to $22.65.

Information technology shares were the standout and rose 2.8 per cent.

Electronics design software vendor Altium jumped 39.03 per cent to $37.83.

Altium's board rejected a takeover offer from US software group Autodesk of $38.50 per share.

Artificial intelligence provider Appen gained 6.13 per cent to $12.99.

The troubles for the three casino operators caused shares in consumer discretionaries to fall 0.89 per cent.

AUSTRAC widened its investigation into Crown Resorts to include its Perth casino.

Shares were down 1.5 per cent to $12.50.

Sydney casino operator Star Entertainment was told it also has potentially serious problems with its anti-money laundering efforts.

Shares were down by 2.02 per cent to $3.89.

Adelaide casino operator SkyCity Entertainment fielded similar concerns.

Shares were lower by 6.47 per cent to $3.18.

Elsewhere on the market, engineering group CIMIC responded to media reports about a possible share market listing for services provider Ventia.

CIMIC has a 47 per cent stake in Ventia and said a share market listing was one option being considered.

CIMIC shares were up 1.34 per cent to $21.34.

Overseas, there has been little response on futures markets to the G7's agreement on a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15 per cent.

The pact is aimed at getting US tech giants to pay more tax.

The Nasdaq and S&P 500 futures have been little changed.

US markets provided a good lead on Friday after weak jobs data eased investors' concerns of inflation.

On Tuesday, the weekly ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index is published.

Melbourne's extended coronavirus lockdown could take a toll.

The National Australia Bank's monthly business survey for May is also due after setting record highs for both conditions and confidence in April.

Spot Gold was down 0.4 per cent at $US1899.55 an ounce; Brent crude was down 0.5 per cent to $US71.53 a barrel. Iron ore was down 2.4 per cent at $US202.42.

The yield on the Australian 10-year bond closed down at 1.64 per cent.

Asia

At the close, China's Shanghai Composite index was up 0.21 per cent at 3,599.54.

The Hang Seng index, used to record and monitor daily changes of the largest companies of the Hong Kong stock market, was down 0.45 per cent, to 28,787.28.

Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed up 0.27 per cent at 29,019.24.

Europe

The pan-European STOXX 600 index, which tracks the return of the largest listed companies across 17 European countries, was up 0.22 per cent at 453.56.

The German DAX fell 0.10 per cent to 15,677.15.

North America

The S&P 500 has ended a languid session slightly in the red , with investors standing by on news of a global minimum corporate tax rate, lingering inflation fears and a lack of market-moving economic news.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 126.15 points, or 0.36 per cent, to 34,630.24; the S&P 500 lost 3.37 points, or 0.08 per cent, at 4,226.52; and the Nasdaq Composite added 67.23 points, or 0.49 per cent, at 13,881.72.

Still, the S&P and the Dow remained inside one percentage point of their record closing highs.

"Thematically, we're done with earnings, so you have this lull in between earnings when what drives the market is economic data points," said Joseph Sroka, chief investment officer at NovaPoint in Atlanta.

"There's not a lot of impetus for investors to take action today."

"There's been this flip-flop between whether inflation will be transitory or persistent, and the next card that gets flipped over for that is the CPI report on Thursday," Sroka added.

Smallcaps outperformed as the ongoing retail frenzy boosted stocks whose recent explosive trading volumes have been attributed to social media buzz.

AMC Entertainment Holdings jumped 14.8 per cent, extending the previous week's 85 per cent gain.

Other so-called "meme stocks," including GameStop Corp and US-listed shares of Blackberry Ltd advanced between 7.0 per cent and 14 per cent.

"You've seen a decades-long, technology-enabled democratisation of the market and there's certainly groups of individual investors that flock to these ideas," Sroka said.

"We're seeing speculative trading in an age of multiple outlets and social media amplifies the news."

The Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies agreed on Saturday to back a minimum global corporate tax rate of at least 15 per cent, a move Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen called a "significant, unprecedented commitment" to bring what she called a race to the bottom on global taxation.

Lawmakers in Washington DC are doubling down on efforts to craft a bipartisan infrastructure spending package, with House Democrats expected to bring a bill to vote as early as Wednesday.

Of the 11 major sectors in the S&P 500, seven lost ground, with materials suffering the largest percentage drop.

Real estate led the gainers.

Shares of Biogen Inc surged 38.3 per cent following news that the Food and Drug Administration approved its Alzheimer's disease drug aducanumab.

Data centre operator QTS Realty Trust jumped 21.2 per cent on reports of a takeover deal by investment firm Blackstone Group worth $US6.7 billion ($A8.6 billion).

Cruise operator Royal Caribbean announced that six of its ships would begin sailing from Florida and Texas ports in July and August.

Its shares gained 0.4 per cent while rivals Carnival and Norwegian Cruise Line advanced 1.1 per cent and 3.1 per cent respectively.