Australian shares ended flat on Thursday after the country's third and fourth-largest telecom operators announced a merger, creating a heavyweight challenger to the top two providers.
A merger of TPG Telecom and Hutchison Telecommunications (Australia), a Vodafone Group unit, would create a combined entity with an implied enterprise value of A$15 billion ($11 billion).
TPG's shares climbed 18 percent, while Hutchison sky-rocketed 44 percent and Telstra shares added 2.9 percent.
Despite the likelihood of increased competition from the merger, "the market seems to have taken the total opposite view to that for some reason," said James McGlew, executive director of corporate stockbroking at Argonaut.
Commonwealth Bank of Australia led the losses, down 1.5 percent.
Westpac Banking fell 0.8 percent after it the raised its key mortgage rates on Wednesday to preserve its profit margins, first major lender to do so.
The bank's shares gained 2.7 percent on Wednesday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index slipped 0.2 percent to 9,339.88, yet hovered around the record highs it hit in the previous session.
Index heavyweight a2 Milk Company fell 1.8 percent, while stock exchange operator NZX Ltd lost 3.2 percent.