The Ibex-35 opened Wednesday with a new advance, taking advantage of the notable rise in Telefónica shares, in a market awaiting the evolution of prices in the United States and its repercussions on the country's monetary policy, as well as tensions in the Red Sea.

Investors are awaiting the inflation figures to be released this week in the United States, as they could accentuate the expectation that the Federal Reserve's interest rates will begin to fall soon, despite the fact that the leaders of the US central bank have tried to refute this speculation.

In this regard, equities received a positive surprise from the UK monthly price index, which fell in November from 4.6% to 3.9%, its lowest level since September 2021, fueling bets on Bank of England rate cuts next year.

Worse received was the conflict in the Red Sea, where attacks by Yemen's Houthi group on commercial vessels are contributing to rising costs and are pushing shipping lines and liquefied natural gas (LNG) tankers to avoid the world's main East-West trade route.

This scenario put upward pressure on crude oil prices, but the move was dampened by the expectation of U.S. intervention against the Houthis, as well as increased U.S. crude oil production.

In any case, the Spanish market rose, supported by the 5% advance in Telefónica, after the Spanish Government ordered the state-owned company SEPI to take a 10% stake in the telecommunications operator.

"In the short term we expect the stocks to advance, as it happened yesterday in the US, due to the buying pressure, as we expect them to make purchases directly from the market (which could last for months)", said Renta 4 analysts.

"In the medium to long term we believe that the best thing for the company is for the current management team and board to maintain the current independence and that any perception of 'political' interference will be misinterpreted by investors who will now include all Spaniards," they added.

For the time being, Telefonica's rise provided an important boost to the Ibex-35, which at 08:13 GMT on Wednesday was up 31.50 points, or 0.31%, to 10,138.20 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.36%.

In the banking sector, Santander was up 0.20%, BBVA was up 0.07%, Caixabank was up 0.05%, Sabadell gained 0.04%, Bankinter was up 0.31% and Unicaja Banco was up 0.39%.

Among the other large non-financial stocks, Inditex advanced 0.03%, Iberdrola dropped 0.17%, Cellnex gained 0.34%, and the oil company Repsol rose 1.40%.

The shares of Enagás, which pays a dividend of 0.696 euros per share on December 22, fell by 4%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos)