Australian shares were flat on Tuesday's close, even as Wall Street and most Asian markets fell after concerns grew about overvalued artificial intelligence (AI) companies.

The S&P/ASX 200 Index changed little to close at 8,399.1.

The broad selloff in US tech stocks came after DeepSeek's free new AI assistant beat rivals and climbed to the top of downloads in the Apple app store, Bloomberg reported.

This is likely to revamp the AI trade, rather than create a broad market collapse, Global X ETFs' investment strategist Billy Leung said in the report.

In domestic news, business conditions in Australia improved in December 2024, with a notable rise in retail, according to a survey by National Australia Bank. The NAB business conditions measure rose to 6 index points from 3 in the previous month.

In company news, Nuix (ASX:NXL) reported Tuesday fiscal first-half underlying earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) guidance of AU$26 million to AU$28 million, down 1% to 8% from AU$28.4 million a year earlier. Shares of the company fell past 20% at market close.

Magnis Energy Technologies (ASX:MNS) said its US units, IM3NY and Imperium3 New York, have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under the US Bankruptcy Code.

Lastly, Newmont (ASX:NEM) reached an agreement to sell its Porcupine operation in Ontario, Canada to Discovery Silver for up to $425 million as part of its strategy to divest non-core assets.