China's CSI 300 rallied 8.48%, closing at 4,017.85 for a nine-day winning streak, its best day since September 2008 and its highest point since August 2023.

Chinese stocks extended a blistering rally on Monday with those in the mainland headed for their best month in almost a decade, as Beijing rolled out further stimulus measures to arrest a slowdown in the broad economy.

Skeptics have been out in force since China rolled out aggressive stimulus measures last week to prop up its ailing economy and markets. It's just not enough to reverse the magnitude of China's problems — including an epic property crisis and high youth unemployment — they say.

On Monday, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan firmed 0.2%, having surged 6.1% last week to a seven-month high. Wall Street also had a rousing week helped by a benign reading on core U.S. inflation on Friday that left the door open to another half-point rate cut from the Fed.

By Wayne Cole SYDNEY (Reuters) -Share markets turned hesitant in Asia on Monday as strife in the Middle East offset more policy measures in China, while the Nikkei dived on concerns Japan's new prime minister favoured normalising interest rates.