Asia stocks middle on the week, Japan’s Nikkei 225 gaps into ¥22,500.00

• Asia stocks mixed on a cautious Monday, gainers spread the middle with hesitant losses.
• Japan’s Nikkei could form into a bullish continuation, but geopolitical tensions continue to rob risk appetite.

Asia equities are coming up mixed for the new week, with the Japanese Nikkei 225 slightly down on the day following a week-opener bullish gap into the 22,500.00 region.

The geopolitical confusion that has plagued global equity markets for most of 2018 continues unabated, with the off-and-back-on US-North Korea summit apparently still on for June 12th following US President Trump’s day-long cancellation of the meeting, and continued the continued US-China trade spat saw risk appetite drag US equities lower to end last week.

The Asia session opens the week mixed, with Asia traders balking at Friday’s downturn as oil prices reverse their recent fortunes; Australia’s ASX index is down -0.54%, while the Shanghai Composite and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index are up almost 0.2% and 0.50% respectively. Japan’s Nikkei index is also struggling to develop bullish momentum for Monday, down around 0.10% on the day so far.

Nikkei levels to watch

The Nikkei 225 could be trying to stage a technical recovery to the 23,000.00 major level, but last week’s decline puts Japan’s major index on the downside, and traders could soon be  seeing a replay of the bearish action that took the Nikkei into a low of 20,318.00 in late March. Risk aversion is sapping further bullishness, and the 23,000.00 major handle, which constrained prices last December, looks set to hold for now, and a bearish continuation from here to could easily fall to 21,500.00 and hit the 50.0 Fibo retracement level, assuming support from the 200-day SMA at 21,700.00 fails to hold.