(Reuters) - The Ibex-35 opened lower on Wednesday and was heading for a May close with a cumulative decline of 0.80%, after worrisome news on the Chinese economy overshadowed progress on the passage of the new law on public debt in the United States.

Markets welcomed the news that the legislation to raise the US debt ceiling cleared a first hurdle by receiving the green light from the House Rules Committee, although it now faces a critical vote in the House of Representatives, expected on Wednesday, and must then be signed by the Senate.

However, the latest macroeconomic data from China set aside the U.S. parliamentary saga and reinforced fears of a deep global pothole with still-high levels of inflation.

The official Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for China's manufacturing sector fell to its lowest level in five months - 48.8 points, below the 49.4 expected - amid weakening demand, which dragged down Asian stock markets.

Nor did the comments of the head of the Bank of Japan, who said that the world's central banks may already be facing a new economic environment in which inflation and interest rates will no longer return to the low levels of the past, contribute to optimism.

Analysts at Renta 4 highlighted that during the day "the JOLTS job vacancy survey will be released in the United States, which could continue to moderate in April, followed by the ADP private employment survey tomorrow and the official employment report on Friday, all of them with expectations of a certain moderation in the pace of job creation".

In addition, "the other relevant reference of the day will be the Beige Book, which will serve to prepare the next Fed meeting (14-June), for which the market gives more than 60% probability of a +25 bp hike to 5.25-5.5%".

After two days in negative territory, at 09:14 Wednesday, the Spanish selective stock market index Ibex-35 fell 45.10 points, or 0.51%, to 9,122.40 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks fell 0.68%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.68%, BBVA fell 0.75%, Caixabank dropped 0.45%, Sabadell fell 0.77%, Unicaja Banco lost 0.98%, and Bankinter gained 0.33%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.38%, Inditex lost 0.51%, Iberdrola gained 0.43%, Cellnex fell 0.16% and the oil company Repsol lost 0.66%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Flora Gómez)