Asian stocks were mixed on Thursday amid optimism about the possibility of the having economic recovery after reopening and ongoing concerns regarding the US-China conflict over Hong Kong.

The Shanghai Composite Index closed 0.33 percent up at 2,846.22, while Hong Kong, Hang Seng Index decreased 1.03 percent to 23,082.03.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 finished 1.30 percent up at 5,851.10, but South Korea’s Kospi index descended 0.13 percent to 2,028.54.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 index climbed 2.32 percent to 21,916.31, the highest level since late February.

Meanwhile, there are some hopes that global economies would start to recover after the strong lockdowns imposed to contain the spread of the Covid-19.

However, the showdown between Washington and Beijing over Hong Kong has caused some tensions, especially after U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo mentioned that Hong Kong no more warranted special treatment under U.S. law.

President Trump said he would act against China’s policies over Hong Kong later this week, where he may hang Hong Kong’s privileged tariff rates for exports to the United States.

In case the U.S. imposed punitive measures on China, Beijing would probably respond and therefore we will end up having a new standoff at the time where major economies are hoping for recovering fast from the pandemic.

Overnight, Wall Street locked high gains, where the S&P 500 index had settled above the 3,000 mark for the first time in nearly 12 weeks, augmenting more than 35 percent since the trough formed in March.

The onshore yuan soared 0.06 percent to 7.1724 per dollar after dipping to a low of 7.1413 on Wednesday, the lowest since September last year.

Later in the day, the U.S. will release it second estimate of Q1  GDP, durable goods orders and weekly jobless claims.