26 May - Spain's main stock index Ibex-35 was trying on Friday to end a three-session losing streak, with markets waiting for a last-minute deal to avoid a US debt default and expectations that Fed interest rates could remain high for longer.

Negotiations between Democrats and Republicans in Washington continued to cast a shadow over the market mood, especially after Fitch's warning of a possible change in the US credit rating, although news that they are getting closer to an agreement helped investors' mood.

The day will see the release of the U.S. core private consumption deflator for April, a Federal Reserve benchmark for tracking inflation, which is expected to remain at the same levels as the previous month, at 4.6%, according to a Reuters poll.

"The data could reinforce recent 'hawkish' (supportive of monetary tightening) comments from Fed members that have led the market to shuffle a further +25 bp hike to 5.5% at either the 14-June meeting (40% probability) or the 26-July meeting (85% probability), in the 'data-dependent pause' scenario put forward by Powell at the May meeting," analysts at Renta 4 said in a note to clients.

At 0705 GMT on Friday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was up 16.10 points, or 0.18%, to 9,132.20 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.44%.

The Madrid index accumulated a weekly loss of 1.28%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.57%, BBVA gained 0.03%, Caixabank advanced 0.46%, Sabadell gained 0.41%, Bankinter gained 0.33%, and Unicaja Banco lost 0.16%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.15%, Inditex dropped 0.06%, Iberdrola lost 0.13%, Cellnex fell 0.43%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.69%.

Among the rest of the electricity companies, Naturgy gained 0.31%, while Endesa advanced 0.51%.

(Information by Benjamín Mejías Valencia; edited by Tomás Cobos)