Asian stocks fell on Thursday as financials slipped on concerns over bank earnings, and the dollar hovered near a record low after a drop in U.S. durable goods signalled the world's top economy is in a recession, Reuters reported. Gains in commodities boosted shares in resources companies, such as Japan's Sumitomo Metal Mining and Australia's BHP Billiton, helping lift some indexes off earlier lows. European markets were set to open lower on further signs the U.S. economy is flagging, and worries that there will be more bank write-downs after a slew of downgrades on U.S. bank earnings. Financial bookmakers in London forecast Britain's FTSE 100, Germany's DAX, and France's CAC-40 to open around 0.4 percent lower. Bank shares, such as Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ and Australia's Macquarie Group, were among the biggest fallers, following the bank downgrades, a profit warning from Deutsche Bank and comments from European central bankers that there was no end in sight to the global credit crunch. "Over the foreseeable future, there is no doubt that we'll see a slowdown in the rate of loan growth, an element of margin compression and an increase in the level of bad debts," said Angus Gluskie, portfolio manager at White Funds Management in Australia. "Those three factors certainly mean that bank earnings will be less than expectations people had a few months ago." Tokyo's Nikkei closed 0.8 percent lower, recouping some of an earlier near-2 percent drop, but still pressured by weaker exporters such as Honda Motor Co Ltd as the stronger yen promised to erode their profits. MSCI's index of other Asian shares fell 0.5 percent by 0612 GMT, taking its losses so far this year to around 14 percent. Seoul's KOSPI and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 index both shed 0.2 percent, while Taipei's TAEIX dropped 1.9 percent and Shanghai sank 3.4 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was a bright spot, rising 0.4 percent on reassuring earnings from conglomerate Hutchison and property group Cheung Kong
