Asian stocks on the weak side for Monday as the US-China tensions continue to rise

• Risk appetite is off-balance in the Pacific-Asia theater as trade tensions between the US and China continue to escalate.
• Markets will be hoping for a cool, collected reaction from China on the US' new trade barriers between the two countries.

Asian equities are softly back for Monday as the US-China trade war continues to escalate unabated, with the Trump administration seeking further restrictions on Chinese involvement in the US economy.

This time around, US President Donald Trump is looking to bar further investment in US technology by Chinese companies, and the ramping-up of tensions between the two countries is seeing broader market sentiment continuing to twist.

Australia's ASX index is down -0.20% for Monday, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng is back nearly 0.40%, but Shanghai's Composite index is up on the day by nearly 0.20%, while Japan's Nikkei 225 is down -0.40% for the day.

Nikkei 225 levels to watch

Japan's leading index is working its way back to June's opening prices near 22,100.00 after declining from the month's peak at the key 23,000.00 handle, though risk aversion is keeping the index away from reclaiming the major handle, and a continued slide will see the index back into May's lows near 21,900.00.