The Spanish stock index Ibex-35 fell below the support level of 9,400 points on Tuesday and was in danger of chaining five days in negative territory, in a context of concern about the economic recovery in China.

The news that China's services activity expanded in August at the slowest pace in eight months weighed on Asian markets, amid fears that the stimulus measures introduced by Beijing will not be enough to revive the world's second largest economy.

In any case, attention will now turn to the equivalent surveys in Europe and the United States, where a moderation is expected, which would add "to the poor manufacturing data, pushing the economy into a zone of stagnation", according to Renta 4 analysts.

Tuesday will also bring the return of stock market trading on Wall Street, which was closed on the eve of the holiday, and comments from leaders of the European Central Bank (ECB), including its president Christine Lagarde, although the markets do not expect significant news.

"(Lagarde) will stick to the plan of her last interventions, without expecting big surprises", says Diego Morín, analyst at IG.

"Yesterday Lagarde also spoke yesterday, arguing that they 'underestimated inflation and its persistence,' something that was logical given the economic outlook in the euro zone. She reiterated that inflation remains 'too high', but without giving clues about the next ECB meeting, where I expect a 25 bp (basis points) hike," adds Morín.

In this regard, the European Central Bank's chief economist, Philip Lane, expressed cautious optimism about slowing inflation in an interview with Irish business media, but said that much more data was needed before he felt comfortable declaring victory.

Against this backdrop, at 0709 GMT on Tuesday, Spain's selective Ibex-35 stock market index was down 37.10 points, or 0.39%, to 9,379.20 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.55%.

In the banking sector, Santander lost 0.63%, Caixabank gave up 0.66%, Sabadell gained 0.28%, Bankinter lost 0.20% and Unicaja Banco rose 0.20%. BBVA fell by 1.5% after receiving a cut in its recommendation from Morgan Stanley analysts.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.56%, Inditex advanced 0.11%, Iberdrola dropped 0.09%, Cellnex fell 0.50%, and the oil company Repsol lost 0.61%.

(Information by Tomás Cobos; edited by Benjamín Mejías Valencia)