Spain's main stock market index declined on Monday amid concerns about the announcement of early general elections in Spain following the defeat of the ruling Socialist party in the regional elections.

On the other hand, European markets declined in Monday's session, as concerns about inflation and further rate hikes persist.

If, as currently expected, the debt ceiling deal in the US Congress is approved, the Federal Reserve's upcoming rate decisions will once again be in the spotlight.

Against this backdrop, the selective Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 closed down 11.00 points on Monday, or 0.12%, at 9,180.10 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks lost 0.12%.

The banking sector was affected by political uncertainty in Spain and expectations of rate hikes linked to the fight against high inflation.

Santander fell to the bottom of the index with a loss of 1.70%.

For its part, BBVA, which is among the companies most exposed to Turkey, where Erdogan has secured a new election victory, fell 1.23%.

As for the rest of the banking sector, Caixabank advanced 0.06%, Sabadell fell 0.21%, Bankinter gained 0.62% and Unicaja Banco lost 0.38%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 1.12%, Inditex advanced 0.35%, Iberdrola dropped 0.26%, Cellnex fell 0.30%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.69%.

(Information by Flora Gómez)