With Friday's rise, Spain's main stock market index has extended its streak of gains for the third week in a row, extending its streak at the start of the year in the midst of the results season and on the verge of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which will test the economy of a country in full reopening.

In the absence of major benchmarks and awaiting next week's Eurozone PMIs, the results are the focus of the markets' attention, in a season that is expected to show the first signs of the effect of the current cycle of interest rate hikes and high inflation.

After the big banks in the United States and Bankinter in Spain, on Friday it was the turn of the first big tech company, Netflix, which surprised with an increase in subscribers. However, the expectation is that growth stocks generally face a period of turbulence in the face of deteriorating economic conditions.

Otherwise, the big test for post-COVID China in the Lunar New Year will largely determine the fate of the world's second largest economy, while in Europe and the US monetary leaders contain investor optimism by insisting on their commitment to aggressive monetary policy, despite growing signs of economic slowdown.

As a result, the Spanish selective stock market Ibex-35 closed with a rise of 125.10 points on Friday, or 1.42%, to 8,918.20 points, extending the strong streak with which it has started 2023 to almost 8-month highs.

The FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.32%.

At the top of the table was Cellnex, which gained 9.84% after press reports that American Tower and Brookfield are considering a takeover bid for the Spanish telephone tower operator.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 1.62%, BBVA gained 0.90%, Caixabank advanced 2.54%, Sabadell gained 1.13%, Bankinter gained 2.42%, and Unicaja Banco rose 1.45%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 1.39%, Inditex advanced 1.00%, Iberdrola showed no variation, and the oil company Repsol rose 1.42%.

(Information by Darío Fernández)