Tanking Alibaba drags Hong Kong as markets rally fades

Asian stocks fell Friday as a rally fuelled by the likely end of US interest rate hikes ran out of puff, while Alibaba dragged Hong Kong down after saying it would cancel the planned spinoff of its cloud computing arm.

After an exciting few days on trading floors, the week headed for a tepid finish, with Wall Street drifting even as a forecast-beating jump in US jobless claims added to optimism the central bank would not tighten again.