* Chinese inflation data weakens global stocks
* Wall Street set for losses
* Bonds slip ahead of U.S. 30-year auction
By Jeremy Gaunt, European Investment Correspondent
LONDON, March 11 (Reuters) - A spike in Chinese inflation weighed on equity markets on Thursday, as investors pondered the prospects of interest rate hikes in one of the world's main economic drivers.
Wall Street also looked set to open lower.
World stocks as measured by MSCI were down slightly, led by emerging markets and Europe. Japan's Nikkei rose nearly 1 percent with interest focused mainly on exporters.
Chinese consumer inflation jumped to a 16-month high in February and a raft of other domestic data displayed broad-based strength, providing fresh arguments for policy tightening sooner rather than later.
"The inflation figures add a little bit more worry in regard to the actions the Chinese will take to try and control the economy," said Justin Urquhart Stewart, director at Seven Investment Management in London.
"There is the concern that they will take too strong an action and that will reverberate back onto Europe ... The last thing we need to see is China trying to slow itself down."
The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top shares was down a quarter of a percent, although it was coming off Wednesday's seven-week closing high.
Globally, equities have been recovering somewhat this month from early-year weakness. Most major indexes are now in positive territory for the year.
But worries ranging from China overheating to European debt and the sustainability of the U.S. recovery are keeping investors cautious.
BONDS WOBBLE
Euro zone government bonds fell in line with lower Treasuries as the U.S. market cheapened up ahead of a sale of 30-year notes later in the session.
The auction was expected to go smoothly however. A well received sale of U.S. 10-year notes on Wednesday followed a solid 2-year German auction earlier in the day and a raft of euro zone syndicated issues this week.
"Despite supply at full steam across the curve and across so many issuers, we've seen very stable levels in outright terms," said Commerzbank rate strategist David Schautz.
All this points to investors keeping up demand for government bonds despite worries about sovereign debt in parts of Europe and large deficits in major economies.
On currency markets, the euro steadied against the dollar and the yen in quiet trade, recovering from earlier falls after the strong Chinese data.
"There was a bit of a risk aversion move earlier, with the dollar and the yen performing better due to the possibility of more tightening in China, but it's not really a durable trade," said Tom Levinson, currency strategist at ING in London.
The euro was at $1.3657.
(Additional reporting by Joanne Frearson, Kirsten Donovan and Jessica Mortimer; editing by John Stonestreet)