WELLINGTON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Asian stocks are likely to

open lower on Thursday after poor U.S. housing data renewed fears

over the pace of the global economic recovery.

The main U.S. share indices fell as much as 2.7 percent after

sales of new homes fell unexpectedly in September, with the

negative mood exacerbated by Goldman Sachs cutting its forecast

for U.S. third quarter growth.

The U.S. dollar and the yen both gained as investors

sought safer assets, with commodity prices falling more

than 2 percent.

British and European shares also fell sharply, as miners and

energy firms were hit by the lower commodity prices.

Japanese shares are expected to open down, with Nikkei

futures traded in Chicago 185 points below the last

closing level in Osaka.

Thursday is set to be another busy day of Japanese earnings,

with Softbank Corp, Mitsubishi Motors Corp and

Nippon Steel Corp among those due to report. For more

see

Australian stocks are also seen falling, with share index

futures at 4,612, a 73.1 point discount to the

underlying S&P/ASX 200 index's close on Wednesday.

Oil prices fell more than 2 percent as the weak

housing data was compounded by figures showing a surprise rise in

U.S. gasoline inventories.

HEADLINES:

> New US home sales drop, durable goods orders rise

> Wall St tumbles on recovery woes;S&P sheds Oct gain

> Deutsche Bank buys wealth manager Sal. Oppenheim

> China to launch case against Big 3 U.S. automakers

> Lazard rides restructuring unit to Q3 profit

> Motorola's Droid has Google navigation features

> Oil price,refinery pain shrink oil company profits

> Swine flu gives Glaxo a shot in the arm

> EU clears Northern Rock split, paves way for sale

> Coke, Pepsi bottlers see sales fall

> Norway makes Europe's first rate hike since crisis

> NZ central bank keeps rate, resists hike pressure

--

KEY INDEXES pct change

Bank of New York Asia ADR index -2.92

Dow Jones Industrial Average -1.21

Nasdaq Composite Index -2.67

MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan -2.41

Nikkei futures in Chicago 9,895

Nikkei futures in Osaka 10,080

--

ASIAN ADR ACTION:

5 most actively traded: pct change

TSMC -2.53

UMC -5.38

Siliconware -7.23

AU Optronics -2.93

Infosys Tech -1.70

Top 5 performers: pct change

Nidec Copal 3.75

Nomura Hld 2.02

Wacoal Corp. 1.71

NTT Docomo 1.06

Chartered Semi 0.70

Bottom 5 performers: pct change

Tom Online -11.49

Advantest -11.06

Satyam -9.98

Genetic Tech -8.72

Siliconware -7.23

--

TOP ASIA EVENTS:

For more Asian company earnings, see

JAPAN - Nippon Steel Corp H1 results

- Mitsubishi Motors Corp H1 results

- Sanyo Electric Co Ltd H1 results

- Softbank Corp H1 results

HONG KONG - Bank of China Ltd Q3 results

- China COSCO Holdings Co Ltd Q3 results

- Tsingtao Brewery Co Ltd Q3 results

AUSTRALIA - Australia&New Zealand Banking Group

full year results

- AGL Energy annual meeting

- Newcrest investor update

TAIWAN - Acer Q3 investor conference

- ASE Q3 investor conference

- Mediatek Q3 investor conference

STH KOREA - SK Telecom Q3 results

- KB Financial Group Q3 results

- NHN Corp Q3 results

(Reporting by Adrian Bathgate)

((adrian.bathgate@reuters.com; +64-4-4714233; Reuters Messaging:

adrian.bathgate.reuters.com@reuters.net))

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