Jan 20 (Reuters) - After the severe correction of the day before, the Spanish stock index Ibex-35 tried to rebound on Friday supported by the prospects of a near end of the giant wave of COVID-19 in China, but in the background persists the fear that central banks do not relent in the abrupt interest rate hikes.

On Thursday, several Federal Reserve (Fed) and European Central Bank leaders derailed speculation of an upcoming pause in inflation-fighting monetary tightening, which had sparked a bullish streak at the start of 2023.

While ECB President Christine Lagarde insisted that the ECB will continue to raise rates and leave them in tightening territory for as long as necessary to reduce inflation, Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard warned that the time is not yet ripe for a pause in borrowing cost increases.

These comments contained the optimism generated by the expected revival of the economy in China, whose government said the worst was over in its fight against COVID-19 ahead of Friday, which is expected to be one of the busiest travel days in years, with mass movement of people fueling fears of a new outbreak of infections.

The day will be sparse on major news, so investors will be waiting for corporate earnings and macroeconomic news next week.

In any case, the expiration of futures and options could bring more volatility than usual to the session.

At 08:05 GMT on Friday, Spain's selective stock market index Ibex-35 was up 90.40 points, or 1.03%, to 8,883.50 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.37%.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.95%, BBVA gained 1.36%, Caixabank advanced 1.27%, Sabadell gained 0.69%, Bankinter gained 0.76%, and Unicaja Banco rose 1.53%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.40%, Inditex advanced 1.38%, Iberdrola remained flat, and the oil company Repsol rose 0.92%.

The telecommunications infrastructure group Cellnex stood out, gaining 8.73%, a rise that analysts at CM Capital Markets attributed to an article in Okdiario in which it is stated that "American Tower and Brookfield are planning with Morgan Stanley to launch a takeover bid for Cellnex and delist it from the stock exchange".

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Flora Gómez)