World equities mostly rose Tuesday on a wave of growing economic optimism and bitcoin hit a new peak on runaway demand, dealers said.

Europe's major stock exchanges were higher at midday after Asia mostly climbed, but traders remain cautious before this week's critical US inflation data.

The world's most popular cryptocurrency Bitcoin surged to a historic high of $68,513, while the dollar dipped versus the euro and yen.

Investors are awaiting vital US consumer price inflation data due Wednesday, preceded by the producer price index on Tuesday.

"The main focus of investors this week will be updates on inflation," said AvaTrade analyst Naeem Aslam.

"Because of rising energy costs and supply chain constraints, inflation is likely to have surged."

Traders have been in buoyant mood since the US Federal Reserve last week unveiled its plan for withdrawing its vast financial support but said it would move cautiously in raising interest rates.

Analysts said other central banks had been less keen to tighten policy than investors had expected.

Still, the Fed warned Monday that the rally across markets could quickly reverse if there was another Covid surge or the recovery stalls, and also raised concerns about the possible impact of China's property crisis.

All three main indexes in New York had hit record highs for the second day in a row on Monday on news that US lawmakers had passed President Joe Biden's $1.2-trillion infrastructure overhaul, and as the country reopened to vaccinated visitors from more than 30 countries.

That all came on top of a strong earnings season and after Pfizer's announcement that a pill to treat Covid had proved to be hugely effective, putting the world another step closer to overcoming the disease.

Bitcoin meanwhile scaled new historic heights as the combined value of all cryptocurrencies topped $3 trillion, according to data provider CoinGecko.

"This breakout in bitcoin might signal the start of a final push-up for the fourth quarter before the crypto market shows more pronounced consolidation into next year," Fundstrat said in a report on Monday.

"Strength in bitcoin, ethereum and many other altcoins looks likely in the weeks to come."