(Reuters) - Australian shares are expected to open little changed on Monday, as rising trade frictions keep investors at bay ahead of expected Chinese retaliation against a new round of U.S. tariffs.
On Friday, China's new U.N. ambassador said that China would take "countermeasures" to protect its rights after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to slap a 10% tariff on $300 billion of Chinese imports.
The local share price index futures <YAPcm1> was little changed at 6,708, a 60.6 -point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index <.AXJO> close. The benchmark fell 0.3% on Friday.
New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index <.NZ50> fell 0.2% to 10,840.72 in early trade.
(Reporting by Syed Saif Hussain Naqvi in Bengaluru; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
