Asian equity markets were lackluster early Wednesday, struggling for direction on the back of an uninspiring lead from Wall Street overnight.

U.S. stocks closed lower on Tuesday as investors weighed the possibility that a stronger dollar could have on earnings. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 closed down 0.6 percent each, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq shed 0.3 percent.

Shanghai Comp down

China's Shanghai Composite doubled losses to 1.1 percent, seemingly set to snap a ten-session winning streak.

Big-cap stocks like Poly Real Estate (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 48-SZ), down 2.4 percent, were among the top losers for the day. Insurers China Pacific Insurance (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 1601-SZ) and China Life Insurance (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 1628-SZ) lost over 2 percent each.

Agricultural Bank of China (Shanghai Stock Exchange: 1288-SZ) receded 1.4 percent, reversing an earlier gain of 0.3 percent, following news of an unexpected decline in profit as net fee income fell and bad-loan provisions increased.

In Hong Kong, Hutchison Whampoa (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: 13-HK) was in focus after agreeing to acquire O2, the Britishcellphone unit under Telefonica (Mercado Continuo: TEF-ES). Shares of the Li Ka-shing-owned company rallied 2 percent, lifting the Hang Seng (Hong Kong Stock Exchange: .HSI) index up to a three-week high.

Nikkei slips 0.1%

Japan's Nikkei 225 index drifted into negative territory as the yen strengthened modestly to 119.61.

Profit-taking weighed on shares of Eisai, which lost 5.4 percent after having rocketed nearly 30 percent over the past two sessions. The drugmaker's stock has been supported by hopes that its drug can treat Alzheimer's disease.

NTT Docomo (Tokyo Stock Exchange: 9437.T-JP) sagged nearly 1 percent after the Reserve Bank of India ruled out Tata Sons' proposal to pay a price higher than "'fair value" to buy out the Japanese telecom giant's stake in their joint venture.

Read More Japan's overseas stock buying spree pressures yen

ASX adds 0.1%

Australia's S&P ASX 200 edged up, with the country's big four lenders widening gains after the central bank voiced confidence in tighter home loan standards.

National Australia Bank , Westpac (ASX: WBC-AU) and Australia & New Zealand Banking Group gained 0.8 percent, respectively, while Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA-AU) inched up 0.5 percent.

"All four major banks are enjoying good operating conditions... with a modest recovery in credit growth and business credit growth is improving, albeit modestly from low levels. Credit quality continues to improve in Australia and we expect that to last for another 18 months," David Ellis, head of Australian Banking Research at Morningstar, told CNBC's " The Rundown ."