The main Spanish stock market index rose on Wednesday for the third consecutive session and recovered the 8,400 points lost a month earlier, with the main markets already open after the Christmas and New Year break and investors' attention on the progress of COVID-19 in China and inflation.

As the list of countries restricting arrivals from China increases in the face of rising contagions, raising fears of a global recession, Chinese authorities promised a "final victory" over the virus, confirming the irreversible nature of the de-escalation.

On the macroeconomic front, the main references of the day will be the Eurozone's final December PMI (0900 GMT) and the US manufacturing ISM (1500 GMT).

Markets are still watching the reaction of prices to the current monetary tightening cycle, hoping that an early easing of inflation will provide room for maneuver to avoid a global recession. In this regard, after the close of the Spanish stock market, the minutes of the last Federal Reserve meeting will be of great interest, and on Friday the US labor report for December will be released, which could influence the central bank's decisions.

At 08:05 GMT on Wednesday, the selective Spanish stock market Ibex-35 was up 52.30 points, or 0.62%, to 8,449.70 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.51%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.82%, BBVA gained 1.31%, Caixabank advanced 0.50%, Sabadell gained 0.57%, and Bankinter gained 0.92%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.38%, Inditex advanced 1.22%, Iberdrola gained 0.64%, and Cellnex gained 0.51%.

Among the few stocks in the red was Repsol, which lost 1.11% with the fall in oil prices due to concerns about a drop in world demand due to the deterioration of the economy and the health situation in China.

At the time of writing this article, the price of a barrel of Brent crude was down 1.08%.

(Information by Darío Fernández; edited by Tomás Cobos)