"Overnight action was mixed and indecisive across the board," said Nicholas Teo at CMC Markets in Singapore.
"It remains to be seen whether we are going through a period of equilibrium - where bulls and bears even each other out - or simply a period where traders are happy to ride out the end of a good quarter by staying on the sidelines."
In Australia, the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 also closed flat at 5,973.32 despite gains in gold and iron ore prices, which is used to make steel.
Japan's Nikkei 225 closed 0.2% higher at 19,746.20, while the broader Topix gained 0.3% to end at 1,592.01.
The Shanghai Composite fell 0.8% to 3,660.73, ending a 10-day winning streak as banks dragged down the index.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed up 0.5% to 24,528.23.
South Korea's Kospi was little changed and ended the session at 2,042.81.
Iron ore prices climbed nearly 2% to $55.86 per tonne, recovering from a six-year low.
Shares of the Agricultural Bank of China (AgBank) fell 2.4% in Shanghai after it reported a drop in profit and a spike in bad loans as the economy slows.
In the meantime, shares of struggling Chinese property developer
Kaisa Group dropped by as much as 6% in Hong Kong after its credit rating
was downgraded to "default". They "do not believe that the company will pay any other debt
obligations whether onshore or offshore", ratings agency Standard and Poor's said commenting on the situation.
Its competing developer Sunac China is proposing to takeover Kaisa, which is billions of dollars in debt and risks running out of money by the end of next month.
Australia's third-biggest iron miner, Fortescue Metals, rose by 1.5% after the firm called on rivals to cap their production to help support prices.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Watchdog, however, slammed the move, saying it did not approve of "any attempt by Australian businesses to encourage competitors to restrict outputs".
