The Spanish stock index Ibex-35 opened Monday with doubts, with some profit taking after 5 consecutive sessions up, at a time when macroeconomic data have highlighted the difference in progress against inflation between the US and the Eurozone.

On Friday, the combination of strong US employment growth and slower wage growth with a sharp drop in service sector activity raised the possibility that the Federal Reserve will be more moderate in its fight against inflation.

By contrast, eurozone inflation data also released that day remained well above the ECB's target.

"Although the latest data show some moderation in inflation, it remains at very high levels and the ceiling to inflation has yet to be confirmed, especially in core inflation in Europe," said Renta 4 analysts in their daily note to clients.

"In this regard, we believe that such high inflation will cause rates to continue to rise, with no rate cuts in 2023, in addition to the expected deterioration of the economic cycle and its impact on business results yet to be seen," they added.

On Monday, the markets received positive news from China with new measures to de-escalate the COVID-19 restrictions, and observed with concern the anti-democratic riots that took place on Sunday in the capital of Brazil. Among the Spanish companies with most weight in the country are Santander, Telefónica, Mapfre and ACS.

This week's focus will be on Fed Chairman Jerome Powell's speech on Tuesday and the US consumer price data, to be released on Thursday.

On Monday, the key macroeconomic data for the eurozone are the Sentix index for January and the unemployment rate for November.

At 08:05 GMT on Monday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was down 17.10 points, or 0.20%, to 8,684.00 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.32%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.46%, BBVA gained 0.40%, Caixabank advanced 0.44%, Sabadell gained 0.77%, and Bankinter gained 0.35%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.68%, Inditex dropped 0.11%, Iberdrola lost 0.78%, Cellnex fell 0.31%, and the oil company Repsol lost 2.17%.

(Information by Flora Gómez; edited by Tomás Cobos)