(Updates at 0140 GMT)

By Rae Wee

SINGAPORE, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Asian stocks swung between

gain and loss on Monday as investors struggled to reach a

consensus view on China's economic stimulus promises made over

the weekend which, though broad, were light on specifics.

Minister of Finance Lan Foan at a closely watched news

conference on Saturday pledged to "significantly increase" debt,

but left investors guessing on the overall size of the stimulus,

a detail needed to gauge the longevity of a stock market rally.

"Most onshore investors believe Beijing's decision to

restructure local government and housing debt using central

government funds is more significant than many foreign investors

believe," said analysts at Morgan Stanley in a client note.

The divergence was apparent on Monday, after shares in Hong

Kong opened slightly lower and were choppy in early trade,

contrasting sharply with their mainland Chinese peers which got

off to a strong start.

The Hang Seng Index last traded a marginal 0.01%

lower, while the CSI300 blue-chip index rose 1.6%.

Property stocks onshore and offshore, however, eked out

solid gain as investors bet the latest stimulus measures could

aid China's beleaguered property sector.

The Hang Seng Mainland Properties Index

advanced 2.2%, while the CSI300 Real Estate Index

jumped 3.7%.

The mixed picture left MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific

shares outside Japan down 0.11%, after having

fallen 1.7% last week as the Chinese stocks rally hit pause.

Trading in Asia was thinned on Monday with Japan out for a

holiday.

U.S. stock futures similarly edged lower, with S&P 500

futures losing 0.1% while Nasdaq futures fell

0.25%.

EUROSTOXX 50 futures and FTSE futures eased

0.08% and 0.05%, respectively.

Also in a blow to China's growth outlook, consumer inflation

unexpectedly eased in September while producer price deflation

deepened, data on Sunday showed.

Reflecting the lingering concerns over the Chinese economy,

the onshore yuan slipped 0.11% to 7.0743 per U.S.

dollar, while its offshore counterpart fell by a

greater extent of 0.2% to 7.0828 per dollar.

Oil prices also fell by more than $1 a barrel on Monday on

worries about waning Chinese demand for the commodity.

Brent crude futures were last down 1.32% at $78.00 a

barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures

fell 1.3% to $74.58 per barrel.

Still, the latest raft of stimulus pledges prompted analysts

at Goldman Sachs to raise their real gross domestic product

forecast for China this year to 4.9% from 4.7%.

"While we have upgraded our cyclical view on the back of the

more forceful and coordinated China stimulus, our structural

view on China's growth has not changed," the analysts wrote in a

client note.

"The '3D' challenges - deteriorating demographics, a

multi-year debt deleveraging trend, and the global supply chain

de-risking push - are unlikely to be reversed by the latest

round of policy easing."

China's third-quarter GDP data is due on Friday.

Elsewhere, movement in currencies was largely subdued, with

the U.S. dollar continuing to draw support from reduced bets of

an outsized Federal Reserve interest rate cut next month.

Against a basket of currencies, the greenback hovered

near a seven-week high at 103.03.

Traders have priced out any chance of a 50-basis-point rate

cut from the Fed in November after data last week showed

consumer prices rose slightly more than expected in September

and recent economic releases have also underscored strength in

the labour market.

Sterling fell 0.13% to $1.3050 while the euro

eased 0.11% to $1.0923.

A reading on UK inflation is due later this week, as is an

interest rate decision from the European Central Bank.