Spain's Ibex-35 stock index was up slightly on Monday but was held back by profit-taking amid cautious global markets as November draws to a close, a month in which the STOXX 600 has risen more than 6%, its biggest monthly gain since January.

Attention remains on the central banks' fight against inflation, with several appointments during the week that will help define market expectations.

On Monday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will address the European Parliament's Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve's Beige Book will be published, ahead of the next meeting of its policymakers, scheduled for December 13.

The securities firm Renta 4 noted in its daily analysis note that for this meeting "the consensus expects stable rates, with the first rate cut scheduled for Jun-24 and up to a total of three 25 bp cuts in 2024".

"In any case, these rate moves will be entirely data-dependent, and we will therefore continue to monitor price data, with attention to the core private consumption deflator, the Fed's preferred inflation measure, which could continue to moderate in October," added Renta 4.

On Friday, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will deliver a message likely to be against easing monetary policy, and there are at least seven other speeches by Fed policymakers on the agenda this week.

The Fed's preferred inflation measure, personal consumption expenditures, will be released on Thursday, and is expected to return to 3.1%, in part due to falling gas prices. Core inflation is expected to slow to 3.5%, its lowest level since mid-2021.

Eurozone inflation data will also be released on Thursday, for which core inflation is forecast at 3.9%, the lowest level since the middle of last year.

If met, this figure would support market bets that there will be no further rate hikes and that monetary policy will ease in 2024. Futures point to cuts of around 80 basis points for both the Fed and the ECB, starting in June.

In this context, at 08:15 GMT on Monday, the selective Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 was up 11.80 points, or 0.12%, to 9,950.80 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.12%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.20%, BBVA gained 0.26%, Caixabank advanced 0.29%, Sabadell gained 0.57%, and Bankinter gained 0.50%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.08%, Inditex advanced 0.19%, Iberdrola was almost flat, Cellnex gained 0.38%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.78%.

(Information by Flora Gómez; edited by Tomás Cobos)