Spain's main stock market index closed flat on Monday, as investors took a breather after a four-day bullish streak the previous week.

Although inflation remains in the spotlight, the words of EU Economic Affairs Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni, indicating that the EU could suffer a shallower GDP contraction rather than a deep recession, lifted investors' spirits.

As a result, the Spanish Ibex-35 closed down 10.60 points on Monday, or 0.12%, to 8,871.10 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks rose by 0.47%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 1.20%, BBVA scored 0.57%, Caixabank gave up 1.53%, Sabadell fell 1.76%, Bankinter dropped 2.01% and Unicaja Banco lost 2.02%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.11%, Inditex gave up 0.04%, Iberdrola remained unchanged, Cellnex gained 1.47% and the oil company Repsol lost 0.57%.

(Information by José Muñoz; edited by Emma Pinedo)