Hong Kong stocks ended the Year of the Rooster leading a rally across Asian markets Thursday and extending a rebound from last week's turmoil, as investors tracked a strong lead from Wall Street.

A key US inflation reading showed prices shot up in January, sending Treasury yields rising and fanning expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at a sharper pace then expected a few months ago.

European stock markets tumbled into the red on Wednesday, as higher-than-expected U.S. inflation data fed speculation that U.S. borrowing costs will be ramped up very soon. 

U.S. consumer inflation jumped sharply in the first month of 2018 with one key measure posting its highest increase in a year, the government reported Wednesday.

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson on Wednesday called for Britain to completely throw off EU rules and to view Brexit as an opportunity, while refusing to deny he might quit if the government chose a different path.

Analysts said Wednesday that Europe's largest economy Germany will likely maintain or pick up its pace of growth this year, after booking a 0.6-percent expansion between October and December.

Ryanair said Tuesday it slashed airfares to Catalonia to continue filling its planes, blaming the secession crisis for keeping visitors away.

Iraq, the second largest oil producer in the OPEC cartel, plans to sharply increase its output capacity to seven million barrels a day by 2022, its oil minister said Tuesday.

War-battered Iraq sought Tuesday to attract international investors to rebuild the country after defeating the Islamic State group, offering hundreds of projects and touting extensive legal guarantees.

Trade tensions between the world's two largest economies continued to simmer as Beijing took aim at imports of a key chemical from the United States, the latest move in a growing standoff between the pair.

Morocco recorded a bumper year for tourist arrivals in 2017, breaking through the 11-million barrier for the first time, the tourism ministry announced Monday.