Asia stocks follow Wall St lower over rate hike fearsAP, BEIJINGAsian stocks on Friday followed Wall Street lower as fears spread that US interest rate hikes to fight inflation might stall economic growth. Traders were briefly encouraged by Fed chairman Jerome Powell’s comment that the Fed was not considering even bigger increases. “Clearly, investors had second thoughts about the so-called ‘dovish hike’ from the Fed,” Rob Carnell, head of Asia-Pacific research at ING, wrote in a report. The likelihood is “rate hikes coming thick and fast, but little if any prospect of a turn in inflation any time soon,” he wrote. The index lost 1.11 percent over the week to post its second straight week of declines.
