Asian stock markets were mostly lower Monday after the Chinese central bank's move to stimulate the economy underlined fears it is slowing too rapidly. China's central bank on Sunday cut the required reserve ratio for banks by 1 percentage point to stimulate lending into a slowing economy. The lower reserve requirement allows banks to lend out a higher proportion of their deposits. The Communist Party-run People's Daily said the cut will release 1.2 trillion yuan ($194 billion) into the world's second-biggest economy. Official data showed last week that China's economy grew by 7 percent in the first quarter of the year, the lowest quarterly expansion since the 2008 financial crisis.

HANG SENG 26,965.52 -687.60 -2.49%

S&P CNX NIFT 8,537.6 -68.40 -0.79%

S&P/ASX 200 5,833.1 -44.77 -0.76%

TOPIX 1,582.68 -6.01 -0.38%

SHANGHAI COMP 4,209.02 -78.28 -1.83%