NZD/USD hung up on 0.6870 as Asia faces bearish tradewinds

• The Kiwi's bearish opening gap remains minor, but telling about investors' expectations for the week.
• Still-rising US-China trade tensions could see risk appetite hobbled for the remainder of 2018.

The NZD/USD pair is moving around the 0.6870 region in early Monday action after bearish headlines over the weekend hobbled buying sentiment to open up the new trading week. 

The US reaffirmed its plans to increase tariff rates on China to 25% across the board, regardless of potential progression in trade talks at the upcoming G20 summit sideline meeting between US President Trump and China's Xi Jinping, and the standoff-ish stance by the US is sapping most of the bullish sentiment that managed to evolve in markets last week as investors grapple with a still-looming full-blown trade war.

It's a very thin week for the Kiwi on the economic calendar, though early Monday's PPI readings did manage to keep the NZD on-balance despite the day's small bearish opening gap, which as of yet remains unclosed. New Zealand's Input PPI for the 3rd quarter came in at 1.4% (last 1.0%), while the Output PPI also improved, coming in at 1.5% (last 0.9%), but with the NZD/USD's lack of readable datasets this week, broader market flows can be expected to resume whipping alongside headlines on trade and political tensions.

NZD/USD Technical Levels