China had appeared less enthused than the US about progress towards a phase one trade deal, time for Brexit negotiations is running out before an EU summit on Thursday and attention turns towards earnings season.
"With the abovementioned backdrop of scepticism setting in on US-China trade, Asia markets may find more lacklustre movements going into Tuesday," IG market analyst Jingyi Pan said this morning.
Metals and mining stocks were 1.4% lower in Australian trade at the time of writing.
BHP (ASX: BHP) was off 1.5%.
Metals and mining stocks closed lower in London on the FTSE100, where Glencore (LSE: GLEN) lost 2.8% and Rio Tinto (LSE: RIO) 2.2%.
The gold price has risen slightly and was worth about US$1,495 an ounce on the spot market.
Newmont Goldcorp (NYSE: NEM) gained 1% in New York yesterday.
Toronto was closed for a public holiday.
Both China and the US will release retail sales figures this week which will be monitored closely for any signs of economic slowing, Bloomberg noted.