The Spanish stock index Ibex-35 started Tuesday's session with a slight rise, recovering the level lost on Monday of 9,900 points, at a time when investors are acting cautiously ahead of this week's U.S. central bank meeting.

Markets generally expect the Federal Reserve to keep rates unchanged at its two-day policy meeting, but the focus will largely be on Wednesday's comments from its chairman, Jerome Powell.

Also weighing on the mood of global markets was the China Evergrande court settlement and its impact on the country's fragile property market, as well as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which lifted oil prices and dampened risk appetite.

At 0810 GMT on Tuesday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was up 15.30 points, or 0.15%, to 9,905.60 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.14%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.24%, Caixabank gave up 0.21%, Sabadell gained 0.04%, Bankinter dropped 0.63%, and Unicaja Banco lost 0.40%.

BBVA rose 0.22%, after announcing that its net profit increased 32% in the fourth quarter and reporting a net interest margin below analysts' average forecast.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.18%, Inditex advanced 0.62%, Cellnex fell 0.03%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.04%.

(Information by Benjamín Mejías Valencia; edited by Javi West Larrañaga)