The Spanish stock index opened in negative territory on Thursday, at a time when investors remained firm in their bets on significant cuts in U.S. interest rates this year, although the starting gun could come a little later than expected.

The Fed committee's decision to keep rates between 5.25% and 5.5% on Wednesday came as no surprise to markets, but it stressed that it would not lower them until it was more confident that inflation was indeed being beaten.

"The idea that interest rates have reached their ceiling is confirmed, but (...) the Fed will continue to monitor the data and will not begin to lower intervention rates until it has more evidence and confidence about sustained moderation in inflation," said analysts at Renta 4 in a note to clients.

On the macroeconomic front, markets will focus their attention on the release of inflation data from the eurozone (1000 GMT) and the US manufacturing ISM (1500 GMT).

Also due on Thursday is the Bank of England's decision (1200 GMT), which is expected to leave rates unchanged as investors look for clues on a forthcoming cut in borrowing costs.

At 0805 GMT on Thursday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was down 49.70 points, or 0.49%, to 10,028.00 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.44%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.12%, BBVA fell 0.32%, Caixabank gave up 1.80%, Bankinter dropped 0.94% and Unicaja Banco lost 1.75%.

Sabadell fell 4.60%, after adopting a cautious tone on the outlook for net interest income growth in 2024 and reporting that its fourth quarter net profit more than doubled compared to the same period in 2022.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.19%, Inditex gave up 0.60%, Iberdrola dropped 0.89%, Cellnex gained 0.39% and the oil company Repsol rose 0.36%.

(Information by Benjamín Mejías Valencia; edited by José Muñoz)