Asia close: Tesla results weigh on auto stocks

Asian stocks were little changed overnight with investor sentiment dampened by a poor reaction to Tesla's fourth quarter earnings.

Talk of further interest rate hikes in the US also weighed on risk appetite.

Japan's Nikkei-225 drifted lower by 0.06% to 1,584.85, alongside a 0.09% dip for the Shanghai Stock Exchange's Composite index to 3,367.03.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng meanwhile edged up 0.14% to 20,396.97 while the South Korean Kospi gave back 0.46% to 2,563.11.

Shares of BYD Co. and Great Wall Motors dragged on the Hang Seng, registering falls of 0.9% and 3.3%, respectively.

On the Kospi it was industrial materials and transport stocks which weighed the most.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing was also in the spotlight after guiding towards weaker-than-expected sales for the quarter.

The chipmaker said that demand from the mobile and PC sectors was soft but added that it was stabilising and that management was expecting an improvement in the back half of the year.

The company's shares ended the day up by 0.59% but Taiwan's TAIEX fell 0.40% to 15,707.52.