Asian markets were mixed Thursday following the previous day's huge gains after U.S. lawmakers agreed a deal to avert the fiscal cliff, while concerns over upcoming fights in Washington hurt sentiment.

The yen clawed back some of its losses against the euro and dollar but remains under pressure on expectations of further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan.

Dubai's Emirates Airlines began operations on Wednesday from the world's first concourse dedicated to Airbus' A380 super jumbos at the Gulf emirate's rapidly expanding airport.

Concourse A, which cost $3 billion (2.3 billion euros) to build, gives Emirates -- one of the fastest-growing carriers -- an additional airport capacity of 15 million passengers a year, the company said.

World markets soared Wednesday after a tense New Year break, relieved after U.S. lawmakers agreed a last-minute deal to avert massive tax hikes and pull their nation back from the fiscal cliff.

Congress voted overnight on a stop-gap agreement that avoided across-the-board tax hikes and automatic spending cuts that had threatened to unleash economic turmoil and perhaps drive America back into recession.

Spanish consumer prices rose by 3.0 percent over the year to December as a sales tax rise hit shoppers in the pocket, provisional figures showed Wednesday.

The inflation rate was unchanged from November, said a report by the National Statistics Institute, which gave no breakdown of prices in the month.

South Korea's top automaker, Hyundai Motor Group, forecast Wednesday a modest 4.1 percent increase in car sales this year to 7.4 million units, with a strong won harming competitiveness.

The projected growth is the lowest since 2007 when the company's global sales rose 3.9 percent, according to data compiled by Agence France Presse.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called on his fellow G8 leaders on Wednesday to start work now on agreeing "bold steps" to help boost global economic growth, ahead of a summit he will host in June.

In a letter marking the start of Britain's presidency of the Group of Eight richest nations, Cameron laid out his three priorities for the year: to extend free trade, tackle tax evasion and combat corruption.

President Barack Obama said Tuesday he had fulfilled a campaign promise to make the U.S. tax system fairer with a deal to avert the fiscal cliff crisis that passed after a fierce duel in Congress.

"The one thing that I think hopefully in the New Year we'll focus on is seeing if we can put a package like this together with a little bit less drama, a little bit less brinksmanship, not scare the heck out of folks quite as much," he said.

Spanish Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said on Tuesday he hoped the eurozone's fourth economy would see a return to job creation in the last quarter of 2013.

"I think 2013 will be better than 2012," de Guindos said on Cadena Ser radio.

A torrent of water surged Tuesday into Sudan's Blue Nile river as President Omar al-Bashir inaugurated the expanded Roseires dam, which officials say should help develop one of the country's poorest, insurgent-hit regions.

When Bashir arrived to open the Arab-funded, Chinese-built expansion before thousands of dancing and flag-waving residents, an arc of water poured through the flag-draped dam, sending spray into the air and rapids bubbling.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un called Tuesday for a "radical turnabout" in the impoverished country's economy in a rare New Year's address that also appeared to offer an olive branch to South Korea.

Kim's speech, broadcast on state television, was the first of its kind for 19 years, since the death of his grandfather and the North's founding president Kim Il-Sung.