Mainland and Hong Kong opened down on Thursday just as the US House of Representatives voted mostly along party lines to end the government shutdown.

The benchmark Hang Seng Index began trading on Thursday on the back foot, down 143 points, or 0.53 percent, at 26,779.

On the mainland, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index inched down 0.09 percent to 3,996 while the Shenzhen Component Index slipped by a similar percentage to 13,228 and the ChiNext Index, tracking China's Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises, was down 0.09 percent to 3,119.

In Japan, the Nikkei share average inched higher while the broader Topix index rose to a fresh peak on value-buying.

The Nikkei rose 0.3 percent to 51,189 close to midday while the Topix was up 0.63 percent at 3,380 after rising to a record high of 3,389 earlier in the day, extending gains to a fourth session.

A deal to end the longest government shutdown in US history cleared Congress on Wednesday, after the House of Representatives voted to restart disrupted food assistance, pay hundreds of thousands of federal workers and revive a hobbled air-traffic control system.

The White House said President Donald Trump planned to sign the bill in an Oval Office ceremony at 9.45pm on Wednesday, or 10.45am on Thursday Hong Kong time. (Reuters/Xinhua)