Asia stocks cement gains after recent rally, oil slips

By Saikat Chatterjee HONG KONG (Reuters) - Asian stocks consolidated recent gains on Wednesday, helped by Wall Street's rise overnight, even as oil prices slid after a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan eased 0.3 percent in early trade. Japan's Nikkei rose 0.4 percent.