Major stock markets in the Asia Pacific region mostly traded lower on Thursday, amid mounting US-China tensions after State Secretary Mike Pompeo told Congress that Hong Kong no longer qualifies for its special status under US law. Also, there are worries that a punitive US response to China could result in a tit-for-tat reaction from Beijing. The Hang Seng index led the losses, falling nearly 1.5%, followed by the Shanghai Composite. The KOSPI index also dropped as the Bank of Korea said that the COVID-19 pandemic would be worse for the economy than the 2008 global financial crisis.
