The Spanish selective closed Tuesday in positive territory after a day of indecision, as investors digested macroeconomic data from the Eurozone and its possible impact on the monetary policy of the European Central Bank (ECB).

Caution was also evident in the United States, where the Dow Jones and the S&P 500 traded with mixed trends, following the publication of the results of General Electric and Johnson & Johnson.

The composite reading of the Eurozone's PMI index, considered a good thermometer of the region's economic health, surprised the markets by returning to above 50 points, the threshold that separates contraction from growth, after seven months.

Although the business survey points to a less sharp slowdown than expected, the reading for the markets was not so positive, as the resilience of the economy may allow the European Central Bank to continue with strong interest rate hikes -usually poorly received by the stock markets- in order to curb inflation.

Stock market traders are looking for a 50 basis point hike by the ECB at next week's meeting, while across the pond, expectations are for a 25 basis point increase on hopes that the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of tightening.

"The Fed has been more hawkish in its monetary policy at the beginning and now it is the turn of the ECB, which has been delayed," said Javier Etcheverry, head of ActivTrades.

"The scenario that the market is discounting is clear. But let's prepare our ships in case, in the face of strong upward momentum, Powell's message is harsher than expected, which could destabilize investors' peace of mind," he added.

The Spanish stock market hit the low of the day shortly before noon, after the European PMI was released, but rebounded in the afternoon, with an equivalent indicator in the United States that still showed levels of contraction in business activity, which would lead to a containment in the Fed's rate hikes.

At the end of the session, the selective Spanish stock market Ibex-35 closed with a rise of 23.00 points on Tuesday, 0.26%, to 8,967.10 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks lost 0.20%.

Of the 17 sessions held so far in 2023, the Ibex-35 has only closed three of them in negative territory and accumulated a 9% rally in January. With five sessions left to close the month, this is the best monthly performance since November 2020, when the first positive results in vaccine trials against COVID-19 were announced.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.27%, BBVA fell 0.29%, Caixabank advanced 0.30%, Sabadell gained 0.80%, Bankinter dropped 0.09%, and Unicaja Banco rose 0.67%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 1.23%, Inditex advanced 0.81%, Iberdrola gained 0.28%, Cellnex gained 0.77%, and the oil company Repsol lost 1.55%.

Outside the Ibex 35, the railway equipment manufacturer Talgo gained 7% after confirming the agreement with the French company Le Train for the construction of high-speed trains.

(Information by Matteo Allievi; edited by Tomás Cobos)