By Nichola Saminather
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Asian stock markets steadied on Tuesday and crude prices inched up from Monday's three-week low, with investors uncertain whether output cuts by major exporters, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, will be enough to support the oil market as other producers have increased supplies.
Sterling, however, languished near its lowest close in three months on renewed concerns about a "hard" Brexit.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan advanced 0.3 percent after a tentative start.
Japan's Nikkei erased earlier losses to trade little changed.
China's CSI 300 was little changed, after China's producer prices beat expectations to surge to a more than five-year high in December as raw materials prices soared in the face of a weaker yuan.
Consumer inflation also rose but missed forecasts.
More From This Section
The Shanghai Composite index slipped 0.2 percent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.3 percent.
Oil prices were marginally steadier on Tuesday after suffering a nearly 4 percent fall on Monday, their biggest one-day loss in six weeks, amid fears that record Iraqi crude exports in December and rising U.S. output, and increased supplies from Iran would undermine an agreement by exporters, led by Saudi Arabia and Russia, to curb production.
"It's unusual to have these agreements last for very long because inevitably someone cheats," said Daniel Morris, senior investment strategist at BNP Paribas Investment Partners.
"It's certainly conceivable that the agreement falls apart and you get more production than anticipated in addition to already thinking that it (the oil price) should be lower because of dollar strength."
U.S. crude crawled up 0.1 percent to $52.04 a barrel, after slumping 3.8 percent on Monday.
Global benchmark Brent added 0.15 percent to $55.03, after dropping 3.8 percent to $54.94 a barrel on Monday.
Sterling was marginally steadier on Tuesday after sharp drops on Monday and Friday dumped the currency at its lowest level since Oct. 11.
Standing at $1.217 on Tuesday, sterling was just 0.1 percent firmer, a negligible improvement after Monday's fall of 1.0 percent, and Friday's 1.1 percent drop.
Prime Minister Theresa May's comments on Sunday that Britain would not be keeping "bits" of European Union membership stoked fears of a "hard Brexit", as she said border controls would be prioritised over market access.
EU officials say Britain cannot have access to its single market of 500 million consumers without accepting the principle of free movement.
The U.S. dollar was down 0.4 percent at 115.585 yen on Tuesday, ahead of a news conference by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday, his first since winning the November election.
The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against a basket of six global peers, slipped 0.3 percent to 101.64, extending Monday's 0.3 percent loss.
The euro climbed 0.3 percent to $1.06075 on Tuesday.
Gold shone amid investors' quest for safety. Spot gold, which jumped to a more than one-month high on Monday, widened gains 0.3 percent to $1,184.86 an ounce on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Nichola Saminather; Editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)