Asian shares tread cautiously, crude oil slips

Asian shares edged slightly lower in early Asian trade on Tuesday, as a downturn in crude oil curbed the enthusiasm from fresh record highs on Wall Street. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched down 0.1 percent, though it was still within sight of a nine-month high touched last week. The Dow Jones industrial average and the S&P 500 both logged fresh record highs.