The Spanish stock index Ibex-35 remained at its highest levels in more than five years on Wednesday and was aiming to seal its fourth consecutive session on the rise, as the idea that the major central banks have put an end to the monetary tightening cycle and that their next decisions will be interest rate cuts gained strength.

The markets are now waiting for new signals to corroborate this outlook, with the US labor figures as the main focus of attention.

The focus is on the job creation report due on Friday, but private sector data released by ADP will serve as an appetizer on Wednesday (1315 GMT).

These figures come on the heels of Tuesday's job openings gauge, which showed the lowest level in more than two-and-a-half years and provided the biggest signal yet that demand for labor is cooling, reinforcing the narrative of a turnaround in monetary policies in sight.

Still, analysts at Renta 4 point out that Friday's job creation figures -- for which the current Reuters forecast is 180,000 net payrolls -- could show "the reinstatement of auto workers once the strike is over, which could cool expectations for rate cuts generated in recent weeks in the face of the recent slowdown in economic activity data."

Elsewhere, Wednesday's main macroeconomic references will be Eurozone retail sales, whose stagnation could fuel expectations of rate cuts in the Eurozone, after a member of the ECB's hard-liner acknowledged that no further increases in the cost of debt are expected in view of the latest inflation data.

Against this backdrop, at 0803 GMT on Wednesday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was up 6.00 points, or 0.06%, to 10,244.40 points, its highest level since May 14, 2018, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks advanced 0.19%.

In the banking sector, Santander was up 0.13%, BBVA scored 0.16%, Caixabank advanced 0.43%, Sabadell gained 0.22%, Bankinter appreciated 0.38% and Unicaja Banco rose 0.49%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.32%, Iberdrola rose 0.73%, Cellnex fell 0.11%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.39%.

Inditex fell by 1.7%, after receiving a cut in Deutsche Bank's recommendation.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)