Asian stocks trade mixed, China stocks lead gains on stimulus measures

• Asian equities trades were mixed on Monday. 
• Chinese stocks close sharply higher due to Beijing's stimulus measures.
• Nikkei was down over 4.80% after Ishiba won the LDP election. 

Asian stock markets trade mixed on Monday. The Chinese stocks lead gains on more policy measures in China, while the concerns Japan's new Prime Minister favores normalizing interest rates weigh on Japanese stocks. 

Traders continue to react to the additional stimulus measures from the People's Bank of China (PBoC) to spur growth in the world's second-largest economy. Meanwhile, China's Shanghai Composite rose by 8.75% to 3,357.20. Meanwhile, the Shenzhen Component climbed by 10.88% to 10,550, and the Hang Seng Index was up by 3.97% to 21,450. 

Data released on Monday showed that China's NBS Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 49.8 in September from 49.1 in August, above the market consensus of 49.5 in the reported month. The Non-Manufacturing PMI declined to 50.0 in September versus August's 50.3 figure and the estimates of 50.4. Additionally, Caixin Manufacturing PMI declined to 49.3 in September after reporting 50.4 in August. Finally, Chinese Caixin Services PMI dropped sharply to 50.3 in September from 51.6 in August. 

Japan's major indices face a sell-off on the day after the prime minister election, with the Nikkei 225 falling by 4.80% to 37,919, while the broad-based Topix was down 3.63% to 2,641. Shigeru Ishiba said Japan's monetary policy needs to be normalized and that financial income tax should be increased.

On the Indian front, the Nifty 50 index declined by 1.02% to 25,912 and the BSE Sensex 30 fell 1.12% to 84,630. The Indian rupee has remained largely stable against the USD in the current calendar year (CY 2024), depreciating by just 0.59% so far.

On Friday, Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) V Anantha Nageswaran noted that the Indian economy is projected to grow at a rate of 6.5-7.0% in the current financial year on a steady-state basis.