Nikkei 225 falls further away from 22,000.0 on Japanese political fears

• Nikkei 225 struggling to make new highs as risk aversion weighs.
• Japanese cronyism fears are weighing equities down in Monday trading.

The Nikkei 225 Index is down in Asia trading, pushing into 21,650.0.

Risk appetite is ebbing once again in Tokyo markets, with Japanese political tensions over cronyism allegations surrounding the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. Government land got sold at a steep discount to a school operator with connections to Abe's wife, and allegations of forged documents are coming out of the woodwork.

Japanese cronyism jitters are taking the top off of Japan's major equity index, and the Nikkei 225 is backing down on Monday trading after reaching a high of 21,865.0 heading into the new week.

Tuesday will be seeing the Bank of Japan's (BoJ) Monetary Policy Meeting Minutes, where traders will be peeking into the central bank's key operating members' opinions and leanings regarding current policy and when to begin enacting changes, and Japanese Machine Orders for January are due Tuesday as well, with market forecasters anticipating a 5.6% uptick in the month-on-month data versus the -11.9% decline in the previous period. Both data points drop at 23:50 GMT late Tuesday.

Nikkei Index Technicals

A double-bottom is pricing in on Daily candles from 21,000.0, but a continued decline from here will see a new lower high priced in on the charts, while support rests from Friday's low of 21,245.0 and the swing low at 21,080.0, with resistance at Friday's swing high of 21,780.0 and late February's swing high at 22,510.0.