The Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 opened Monday with a negative trend but was heading for a positive performance in July as a whole, which would be its second monthly increase, in a context of recalibration of the course of interest rates in the major economies.

In recent days, the market received signals from leaders of the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank about a possible ceiling on borrowing costs after a prolonged cycle of monetary tightening that has curbed inflation but has also sparked fears of an abrupt halt in activity.

All in all, investors are now likely to focus on trying to guess how long interest rates will remain at current levels before being cut.

"In order to keep inflation under control, (central banks) will be forced to keep rates tight (>3% in the US and >2-2.5% in the Eurozone) for a long period of time (2025e)," said analysts at Renta 4.

After the meetings of both institutions last week, on Thursday it is the turn of the Bank of England, from which further interest rate increases are still expected, given the persistently high prices in the UK.

Otherwise, the market received with optimism the news of new economic stimulus measures in China, and this week will be awaiting, among other macroeconomic data, CPI and GDP in the Eurozone.

At 07:11 GMT on Monday, the selective Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 was down 31.00 points, or 0.32%, to 9,654.10 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.11%.

For the month as a whole, the Ibex-35 accumulated a fall of 0.60%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.18%, BBVA fell 0.52%, Caixabank dropped 0.41%, Sabadell fell 0.18%, Bankinter gained 0.71%, and Unicaja Banco rose 0.46%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.18%, Inditex dropped 0.06%, Iberdrola gained 0.13%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.22%.

Cellnex fell by 1.64%, after its CFO left the company, and Acciona Energía fell by 1%, after receiving a downgrade in its recommendation from Stifel analysts, while Meliá rose, in a context of a favorable outlook for the tourism sector.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Flora Gómez)