Spain's Ibex-35 stock index opened Tuesday with a slight decline after comments from Federal Reserve officials revived the prospect of higher interest rates for a longer period than expected.

Fed members "affirmed that there are still rate hikes (already known, up to an estimated ceiling of around 5%) but above all that they will remain for a long time at that level (against market expectations of an early start of cuts), insofar as it is still too early to declare victory over persistent inflation," said analysts at the Renta 4 securities house.

In any case, these speculations served as an excuse for the market to take further profits, after the spectacular start of January, with the first five sessions up, and investors are waiting for weighty references before taking new positions.

The main focus of the week will be Thursday's U.S. CPI, which some Fed officials say will help them decide whether they can slow the pace of rate hikes at their next meeting.

Meanwhile, a speech at an event in Stockholm (14:00 GMT) by Jerome Powell, chairman of the US central bank, will serve as an appetizer for investors.

In addition, Renta 4 points out that the corporate earnings season returns on Friday with figures from US investment banks, including JPMorgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Blackrock and Citigroup.

At 08:05 GMT on Tuesday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was down 13.90 points, or 0.16%, at 8,681.00 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.65%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.35%, BBVA fell 0.37%, Caixabank gave up 0.34%, Sabadell fell 0.51%, and Bankinter dropped 0.27%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.14%, Inditex lost 0.07%, Iberdrola gained 0.14%, Cellnex gained 0.15%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.20%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Flora Gómez)