Asian shares clinched slender gains on Tuesday as improved manufacturing data from China, Japan and the United States augured well for global growth, despite a disappointing result from the euro zone. Though moves were modest as markets slipped into something of a summer lull, MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan managed to gain 0.3 percent. Japan’s Nikkei lagged by losing 0.36 percent, but South Korea outperformed with a rise of almost 1 percent, led by Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Hyundai Motor Co.