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SINGAPORE, July 13 (Reuters) Asian stocks slumped on Thursday, led by electronics and automobile exporters, on worries about slowing U.S. corporate profits and soaring energy costs as crude oil edged towards a record high above $75 a barrel.

Heightened Middle East tensions after Israeli aircraft bombed Lebanon's Beirut airport also triggered a sell-off in late Asian trade as investors fretted about rising global security risks.

Stocks in Europe are likely to open lower with spread betters in London expecting Britain's FTSE 100 <.ftse>, France's CAC 40 <.fchi> and Germany's DAX <.gdaxi> to fall 20-40 points in early trade.

The dollar traded narrowly against the yen and the euro following a rally overnight after the U.S. trade deficit for May came in less than analysts' expectations. The data helped ease concerns the country might not be able to fill the trade gap with overseas capital.

Japanese government bonds rose, reversing early losses, after a 30-year bond auction generated higher-than-expected demand even as the Bank of Japan looked set to raise interest rates for the first time in six years at a policy meeting ending on Friday.

Gold traded at about $649 an ounce after surging to a six-week high of $655.3 on Wednesday on safe-haven buying due to higher oil prices, tensions in the Middle East and security risks after bomb blasts in India's financial capital, Mumbai.

Japanese stocks have been hurt by these factors in the past couple of weeks. Analyst downgrades of leading U.S. high-technology companies have also added to investor woes.

''Investors are worried that we could see a slowdown in the U.S.

economy in the second half of the year, and that is having an influence on exporters who focus on the United States,'' said Takashi Ushio, head of the investment strategy division at Marusan Securities.

Japan's Nikkei stock average <.n225> fell 1 percent to 15,097.95, after earlier hitting a two-week low, as chip equipment maker Tokyo Electron dropped 4.5 percent and top car maker Toyota Motor Corp. shed 2.0 percent.

South Korea's KOSPI <.ks11> shed 0.9 percent as shares of Hyundai Motor dropped 3.0 percent and top chip maker Samsung Electronics lost 1.3 percent. MSCI's index for the biggest Asian companies outside of Japan <.msciapj> declined 0.6 percent.

U.S. WOES All three major U.S. indexes lost more than 1 percent on Wednesday following disappointing earnings and negative analyst reports about leading technology companies such as Apple Computer Inc. and Dell Inc. .

Shares of Japan's top microchip testing equipment maker Advantest Corp. fell 2.9 percent. Industrial robots maker Fanuc Ltd.

lost 3.1 percent, while shares of consumer electronics maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. dropped 3.1 percent.

Gains in shares of top silicon wafer maker Shin-Etsu Chemical Co.

, after a 33 percent jump in quarterly profit, and advances in brokerage stocks briefly shored up the Nikkei index at midday.

Analysts said rising oil prices remained a persistent concern for investors.

U.S. crude oil futures stood around $75.60 per barrel by 0650 GMT, close to last week's record high of $75.78 after a sharp fall in U.S. crude inventory, forecasts of accelerating demand growth and the ongoing stand-off between Iran and the West over the Persian Gulf nation's nuclear programme.

''Where oil goes now depends on signals on Iran in the lead-up to the G8 meeting at the weekend,'' said Dariusz Kowalczyk, senior investment strategist at CFC Securities in Hong Kong.

''My guess is that prices are too high, and we'll see some steam come off, but it really depends on political news.'' Rising oil prices could fuel inflationary pressures and force central banks worldwide to raise borrowing costs, which in turn could dampen consumer demand and corporate profits.

Analysts expect the Bank of Japan to raise its benchmark rate to 0.25 percent from zero on Friday.

Toru Otsuka, deputy general manager at Mizuho Investor Securities, said financial markets were more interested in the outlook for future rate increases and were likely to closely watch BOJ's statements after this week's policy meeting.

The dollar traded at about 115.40 yen, barely moved from 115.46 yen in late New York trade where the U.S. currency surged after a lower-than-expected trade deficit data and ahead of the BOJ rates decision.

The euro traded at $1.2707, little changed after slumping in New York trade.

The yield on benchmark 10-year Japanese government bonds slumped to 1.910 percent from the previous day's 1.930 percent after the successful 30-year bond auction. That on the five-year JGBs rose to 1.415 percent, from 1.430 percent.

REUTERS CS PM1403