Asian stocks rose on Thursday, with Chinese shares leading the gains after a rally on Wall Street cheered investors and eased fears of a deep and lasting global market slump.

Tokyo stocks closed up 1.08 percent to finish at 18,574 points while Seoul gained 13.91 points, to 1,908. Sydney also rose 1.17 percent, with Chinese shares traded in Shanghai gaining 5.34 percent.

The gains were prompted by a sharp rise in US stocks on Wednesday, which ended a six-day losing streak after fears for China's stalling economy.

Europe's main stock markets also rallied, rising by about 2.5 percent in opening trade on Thursday, inspired by bumper gains in Asia and the US.

In initial trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index won 2.46 percent to 6,126 points, Frankfurt's DAX 30 jumped 2.74 percent to 10,271 and the CAC 40 in Paris soared 2.47 percent to 4,612 points.

Rate hike postponed?

The US market rebound came after William Dudley, the head of the New York branch of the Federal Reserve and one of the most influential members of its monetary policy board, said the reasons for moving to a long-awaited rate hike in September had weakened.

Dudley expressed the view that the slowdown in China would impact the global economy and lead to "less demand for the US economy."

"We're concerned about the outlook, how is the economy going to perform in the future... And there, international developments and financial market developments do have relevance because they can impinge and affect the economic outlook," he said.

Angus Nicholson, an analyst with IG Markets, described the US share gains as a "phenomenal bounce," adding: "William Dudley's speech seemingly put to bed any prospect of September rate hikes. I think the market will largely be looking towards December as the most likely date if a rate hike happens this year."

A better-than-expected US manufacturing report showing orders for durable goods jumped 2.0 percent in July also added to the optimism.

In currency markets, the dollar gained and dealers sold the yen - seen as a safe haven during times of market turmoil - as risk aversion eased. In Tokyo trading, the dollar bought 119.97 yen after crossing the 120 yen mark in earlier trading. The euro was stronger at 136.14 from 135.72 yen. The 19-nation euro fetched $1.1348, up from $1.1312 in US trade.

Gold, also seen as a safe haven when markets are going haywire, traded at $1,127.42, down from $1,131.80 late Wednesday.

uhe/cjc (Reuters, AFP, dpa)