South China Morning Post quoted a Chinese official saying that ­Beijing will live up to its trade deal commitments, but the United States must also honour the one-China policy in relation to Taiwan.

The remarks come as ­Beijing and Washington announced a Phase 1 trade deal earlier this month, cooling their 18-month trade conflict that has rattled financial markets and hurt global economic sentiments.

However, trading remained largely subdued as "the overall picture looked one of book squaring and profit-taking in Asia with investors preferring to wait until next week before loading up on the first trades of a new decade," said Jeffrey Halley, a senior market analyst - Asia Pacific, OANDA.

The Indonesian benchmark ended lower as it snapped four straight sessions of gains, with technology and utilities weighing down on the index on its last trading day of the year. The benchmark had added 1.3% in the past four sessions and is up 1.7% for the year.

IT firm Metrodata Electronics Tbk PT slumped over 11% to hit its lowest since Dec. 3.

The Thai benchmark index was little changed after data showed that its export slump widened in November.

Singapore stocks reversed early gains to end flat, as a rise in industrials was capped by losses in financials.

Index heavyweight Singapore Telecommunications Ltd climbed as much as 0.9% after it said it is partnering with ride-hailing firm Grab Holdings Inc to apply for a digital full banking licence in Singapore.

The move comes amid the country's biggest push for liberalisation of its banking sector in two decades to enable online-only banks that can operate at lower costs and offer different services than those by traditional lenders such as DBS Group Holdings Ltd and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp Ltd.

Both DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp hit their lowest in about two weeks.

Malaysian shares hit their highest closing level since Aug. 8 as consumer and utilities jumped.

Philippine financial markets are closed from Monday, Dec. 30, till Wednesday, Jan. 1, for New Year holidays.

By Shruti Sonal