China's Foreign Ministry: Decided to impose sanctions to US officials who behaved egregiously on Taiwan affairs

China's foreign ministry was out with a statement in the last hour and said that the country has decided to impose sanctions to US officials who have behaved egregiously on Taiwan affairs.

The comments added to worries about a further escalation in tensions between the world's two largest economies. This comes amid concerns about the potential economic fallout from the ever-increasing coronavirus cases and continued weighing on investors' sentiment. This was evident from a weaker tone around the equity markets, which, in turn, benefitted traditional safe-haven currencies, including the Japanese yen.