The IBEX 35 began the month of April and the second quarter with no clear trend, due to fears of an international escalation of the conflict between Israel and Hamas and market speculation about the next moves of the US Federal Reserve.

Nevertheless, the Spanish stock market index managed to remain above the 11,000-point barrier on Tuesday in the return to activity after a four-day break for Easter. The selective index advanced 9.63% in the first quarter of the year, an advance that leads market observers to point to possible profit-taking.

"(The IBEX is) trading at levels not seen since May 2017. Therefore, we cannot rule out a 'break' in the price after a practically straight upward climb, being able to 'give up' the 11,000 points, with nearby support around 10,930 points," said Diego Morín, analyst at IG house.

Among the factors inviting restraint was the Israeli attack on the Iranian embassy in Syria, which left seven military commanders dead and rekindled fears that the Israeli invasion of Gaza could turn into a broad regional conflict.

The market was also cautiously analyzing the ISM U.S. manufacturing survey released on Monday, which beat market expectations and reduced bets on an early start to U.S. interest rate cuts.

According to interest rate futures on LSEG's IRPR tool, the odds of a June Fed rate cut stood at just under 60% on Tuesday, down from above 70% last week.

However, this outlook could be altered following the release of the monthly U.S. labor market report on Friday, which the Fed is closely watching for signs of overheating in the economy.

On the other side of the Atlantic, German inflation figures for March will be released on Tuesday, followed by Eurozone inflation figures on Wednesday.

At 0715 GMT on Tuesday, Spain's IBEX 35 was up 2.10 points, or 0.04%, to 11,076.70 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.40%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.11%, BBVA was practically flat, Caixabank advanced 0.91%, Sabadell gained 0.52%, Bankinter gained 0.12%, and Unicaja Banco rose 0.70%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.32%, Inditex advanced 0.49%, Iberdrola dropped 0.09%, Cellnex fell 1.62%, and the oil company Repsol rose 2.33%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos)