Australia shares likely to open lower, NZ rises

Oct 21 (Reuters) - Australian shares are set to open lower on Friday, after worries surrounding aggressive rate hikes by the Federal Reserve pulled down Wall Street equities overnight, while weaker iron ore prices are likely to hurt local mining stocks.

The local share price index futures fell 0.4%, a 29.7-point discount to the underlying S&P/ASX 200 index close. The benchmark fell 1% on Thursday.

New Zealand's benchmark S&P/NZX 50 index rose 0.3% to 10,860.64 points in early trade. (Reporting by Anan Ashraf in Bengaluru Editing by Chris Reese) ((Anan.Ashraf@thomsonreuters.com)) ((For more information on DIARIES & DATA: U.S. earnings diary [RESF/US] Wall Street Week Ahead [.N/O] Global Economy Week Ahead [DATA/] ................................................................ For latest top breaking news across all markets