The Spanish stock index IBEX 35 opened Thursday with little change and failed to move away from the psychological level of 11,000 points, with the market's attention on international politics and the interest rate horizon.

Investors continue to pay close attention to events in the Middle East, which are keeping oil prices relatively high, in view of the advance of Israeli tanks in Gaza and the danger of an open conflict between Israel and the Hezbollah militia.

In the European Union, concerns remain over the political situation generated by the call for early elections in France, which has rekindled fears about the sustainability of the country's public finances, especially after Brussels' warning on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the French Treasury will hold its first debt auction (0900 GMT) since the call, which, according to analysts at Renta 4, "will give us an idea of whether there is investor appetite at these levels of IRRs (debt yields) after its recent extension or whether we should expect more punishment for French debt".

Meanwhile, on the monetary front, the Swiss and UK central banks will hold meetings that could provide clues on the path of interest rates around the world.

In the case of the Bank of England, analysts polled by Reuters suggest that rates will remain unchanged, so the focus will once again be on the outlook for the next moves.

"The market expects between 1 and 2 BoE cuts in 2024, with the first one having been delayed almost until November following yesterday's inflation data," said Renta 4.

A rate cut in Switzerland looks more likely, with the recent strength of the Swiss franc and benign domestic inflation arguing for looser monetary conditions.

Elsewhere, the main macroeconomic news will come from the United States, where there will be data on the housing sector, the weekly unemployment indicator and the Philadelphia Fed's activity index.

Against this backdrop, at 07:15 GMT on Thursday, the selective Spanish stock market index IBEX 35 was up 9.40 points, or 0.09%, to 11,065.80 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.31%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.12%, BBVA gained 0.30%, Caixabank gave up 0.16%, Sabadell gained 0.39%, Bankinter gained 0.51%, and Unicaja Banco rose 0.32%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.23%, Inditex advanced 0.21%, Iberdrola dropped 0.08%, Cellnex gained 0.45%, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.31%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Javi West Larrañaga)