By Kanupriya Kapoor
SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Asian stock markets slipped after making early gains on Tuesday, as investors waited for U.S. inflation data that many hope will persuade the Federal Reserve and other central banks to step back from aggressive interest rate hikes.
MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.10% in midday trade while Japan’s Nikkei and Australian shares were 0.35% and 0.24% higher respectively. Seoul’s KOSPI index was down 0.10%.
China’s CSI300 Index and the Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.33% and 0.21% respectively as a fears of a surge in COVID-19 infections following the dismantling of key parts of government’s zero-COVID policy clouded the outlook for the world’s second biggest economy.
But a tourism-linked index jumped more than 2% as Hong Kong eased COVID-19 restrictions for inbound travellers.
Beyond China, investors’ main focus was on U.S. inflation data due out at 1330 GMT on…