The Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 started the last month of the year with a positive trend, continuing the streak that allowed it to close November with its best month in three years, in a context of optimism about the trend in interest rates.

The selective on Friday momentarily surpassed 10,100 points, a level it has not visited since May 2018, as investors await new clues about the next steps of the US Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

This week saw U.S. and European inflation reports that surprised markets positively, which has increased bets on rate cuts next year.

In this sense, analysts will continue to scrutinize the next macroeconomic figures to be published to confirm the slowdown in prices and the expectation of a soft landing for the economy.

On Friday, the main reference will be the PMI business activity surveys, which in the case of China showed marked weakness.

However, monetary hopes were clouded by the conflict in the Middle East, where Israel resumed its offensive against Hamas, ending a truce that has allowed the exchange of hostages for prisoners and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

At 08:15 GMT on Friday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was up 37.20 points, or 0.37%, to 10,095.40 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.53%.

For the week as a whole, the Ibex-35 accumulated a rise of 1.56%, which, if maintained at the close, would represent its fifth consecutive session in positive territory, the best streak since March-April.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.72%, BBVA gained 0.68%, Caixabank advanced 0.34%, Sabadell gained 0.30%, Bankinter gained 0.19%, and Unicaja Banco rose 0.29%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.94%, Inditex advanced 0.29%, Iberdrola gained 0.09%, Cellnex fell 0.68%, and the oil company Repsol rose 1.10%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos)