The Hang Seng Index climbed 3.75 points, or 0.02 percent, to open at 23,644 points on Thursday.

Mainland stocks opened lower, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index down 0.16 percent to open at 3,398 points.

The Shenzhen Component Index opened 0.28 percent lower at 10,324 points.

It comes as a 0.5-percentage points reduction in the reserve requirement ratio (RRR) for eligible financial institutions takes effect on Thursday, with the move expected to inject roughly 1 trillion yuan (about US$139 billion) of long-term liquidity into the financial market.

The RRR cut, the first such move since the start of this year, was announced last week by the People's Bank of China.

Also starting on Thursday, the RRR for auto financing and financial leasing companies was slashed by five percentage points to zero percent, with the cut expected to increase the credit supply capacity of these two types of institutions in their respective fields. (Xinhua)