Feb 1 (Reuters) - The Spanish stock index opened the last day of the week in positive territory awaiting a reading on the strength of the labor market, while investors are looking for clues about the possible start of rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

The star of the day will be the official U.S. employment report, which could indicate when the Fed will start cutting rates. Markets are taking a May cut for granted, but if the employment numbers are lower than expected, bets on an early March cut could skyrocket.

"The market discounts some moderation in the pace of job creation in January (185,000e in nonfarm payrolls vs 216,000 previous)" wrote analysts at Renta 4 in a note to clients.

However, investors are facing the central bank's reluctance to claim victory on inflation or to officially consider a "soft landing" before unleashing rate cuts, which at their last meeting were left untouched at 5-25%-5.50%.

In the central bank arena, the Bank of England also left its rates unchanged (5.25%) at the previous day's meeting, in line with the Fed and the European Central Bank, which want to be sure they have tamed inflation before easing rates.

At 0816 GMT on Friday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was up 32.20 points, or 0.32%, to 10,046.20 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was up 0.36%.

For the week as a whole, the Spanish index was on track for a rise of 1.01%, its highest since the end of November.

In the banking sector, Santander rose 0.79%, BBVA gained 1.01%, Sabadell fell 0.09%, Bankinter gained 0.32%, and Unicaja Banco lost 0.06%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica gained 0.24%, Inditex lost 0.61%, Iberdrola gained 0.27%, Cellnex gained 0.90%, and the oil company Repsol lost 2.06%.

(Information by José Muñoz; edited by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)