SINGAPORE, Aug 24 Reuters Asian stock markets slipped for an eighth straight session on Wednesday, and the dollar loomed large as fresh hawkish comments from a Federal Reserve official kept investors cautious ahead of this week39;s Jackson Hole symposium.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari was the latest official to reiterate the Fed39;s focus on controlling inflation ahead of all else, and said on Tuesday his biggest fear was underestimating the extent of price pressures.

MSCI39;s index of Asian shares outside Japan fell 0.2 in morning trade, on track for the index39;s eight successive daily drop, if sustained. Japan39;s Nikkei fell 0.6.

Wall Street steadied overnight after two days of heavy losses, as soft U.S. data tempered ratehike worries. The data also eased pressure on shortdated U.S. Treasuries.

U.S. services and manufacturing surveys had disappointed on Tuesday and July new home sales fell to a 612 year low.

In some ways it39;s good news, the softer the data is now, the less the Fed has to do, said ING economist Rob Carnell, but he said there weren39;t too many reasons to expect a shift in tone from the Fed at this week39;s Jackson Hole symposium.

It might be a bit early to be jumping that gun just yet…if you start to give the market a little sop that it might get better in time you might end up undermining your own approach.

SP 500 futures fell 0.3 in Asia and European and FTSE futures also eased a bit.

Brent crude futures are…