Bonds also rose, mirroring hopes of a softer inflation report, and the U.S. dollar was near seven-month lows against a basket of currencies.
Europe's STOXX 600 (.STOXX) equity benchmark index rose 0.6% to its highest since April 2022.
Roberto Lottici, portfolio manager at Banca Ifigest, said he was concerned markets could potentially even react negatively to any big downside surprise in the U.S. CPI data.
Foreign exchange markets elsewhere were quieter ahead of the U.S. CPI data while China's reopening kept a bid under Asia's currencies.
The dollar index eased 0.1% to 103.06, not far from a seven-month low of 102.93 hit this week.