Nikkei 225 trying to extend Friday's gains into the 21,600.00 region

• Risk appetite is fairly bid despite China tariff retaliation and Easter holiday continuation sapping market volumes.
• It's still NFP week for the broader markets, and any build-up in sentiment could be a temporary affair if the numbers disappoint traders.

Japan's leading stock index is lifting in early week action, and the Nikkei 225 is probing higher into the 21,550.00 region with a large portion of the broader markets still off for the long weekend and celebrating Easter Monday.

Traders are wary heading into another NFP week following China's follow-through on promised tariffs on American-made goods, but full-on risk aversion has yet to enter the markets, likely because the Chinese government telegraphed the move adequately in the tense run-up in the current tariff escalation unfolding between China and the US. Japan's equity market is holding up well, extending last week's gains and continuing to lift in the new week.

Nikkei Levels to watch

The Nikkei is trading into a hazardous position, and the continued run-up from last week's buying has left the major index trading directly into declining resistance from consistently lower highs on the Daily candles, and current intraday resistance is sitting heavily at Friday's high of 21,630.00 with further resistance from mid-March's swing high at 22,100.00, while support is showing signs of thinning at last week's swing low of 20,688.00 and the previous swing low before that, at 20,320.00.