The Spanish stock index Ibex-35 showed little change at the open on Wednesday, in a market unwilling to take positions ahead of the expected speech by the Federal Reserve (Fed) chairman and several data on the U.S. labor market.

Jerome Powell, the top U.S. central banker, begins two days of congressional appearances on Wednesday, with a hearing at 10 a.m. ET (1500 GMT) before the House Financial Services Committee.

"(...) we expect him to reiterate the idea that more conviction about controlling inflation is needed before he starts cutting rates," securities house Renta 4 said in a daily report.

These analysts also highlight the record highs in gold on Tuesday, at $2,141.6 per ounce, as hopes for mid-year interest rate cuts increased following Tuesday's indicators that showed greater economic weakness than expected.

Otherwise, investors will be waiting for this week's U.S. employment figures: the JOLTS data on vacancies (Wednesday), the ADP private sector payrolls indicator (Thursday) and, in particular, the monthly job creation report (Friday).

Meanwhile, at 08:05 GMT on Wednesday, the Spanish selective stock market index Ibex-35 was up 6.90 points, or 0.07%, to 10,124.00 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.08%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.16%, BBVA gained 0.17%, Caixabank advanced 0.30%, Sabadell gained 0.28%, Bankinter gained 0.49%, and Unicaja Banco rose 0.72%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.23%, Inditex gave up 0.10%, Iberdrola gained 0.14%, Cellnex gained 0.47%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.66%.

The hemoderivatives group Grifols once again fell, dropping 6.15% as stock market doubts about the company were rekindled after unconvincing quarterly results and a new negative report from the bearish fund Gotham City.

On the other hand, the Anglo-Spanish airline holding company IAG gained 2.74%, after receiving an improved recommendation from JP Morgan.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited in Spanish by Javi West Larrañaga)