Global stock markets mostly rose on Thursday before data that is widely expected to show another softening of US consumer inflation, giving the Federal Reserve room to slow its interest rate hikes. Equities also found support on growing optimism over China’s economic reopening. Wall Street had provided a strong lead, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq soaring Wednesday thanks to demand for recently beaten-down tech firms. The US consumer price index (CPI) reading due Thursday is the key event for investors, though analysts warned that an above-forecast reading would deal a hefty blow to confidence on trading floors. The data “could determine whether the relatively positive sentiment seen so far in 2023 can be maintained, given the influence this data point has on the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy”, said Russ Mould, investment research director at British brokerage AJ Bell. Stock market gains were also helped by comments from Fed official Susan Collins backing a quarter-point US rate hike at the bank’s next policy decision on February 1. Collins, who is head of the Boston Fed, told The New York Times that slowing the pace of increases would give policymakers a chance to see how their efforts to rein in decades-high inflation were working.