The Spanish stock index Ibex-35 opened Thursday with slight declines, as investors analyze a new batch of results against the backdrop of concerns about the banking system, while also awaiting the day's economic data.

Against the backdrop of doubts about the ability of US-based First Republic Bank to sell assets, investors are looking for immediate encouragement as the quarterly results season continues: Meta on Wednesday anticipated strong earnings in June after a good first quarter, while in Spain several big names in the Ibex-35 published results on Thursday.

Two big banks released their quarterly figures: BBVA scored 0.24% after reporting a 39% rise in profit to March thanks to a good performance in Mexico, while Sabadell cut its quarterly profit by 4% due to Spain's extraordinary tax on banks, after which it fell 0.96%.

Among the industrials, Repsol lost 1.49% after reducing its profit by 20% due to the fall in hydrocarbon prices. For its part, the telecommunications tower group Cellnex fell 1.47% after slightly reducing its losses in March and increasing its ebitda by 15%, while continuing with the shift in its strategy from acquisitions to debt reduction.

The results of the steel company Acerinox, which rose 2.16% after returning to profit in the first quarter due to the increase in steel demand in the United States, were well received.

At the bottom of the table was Pharma Mar, which lost 4.39% after announcing on Wednesday, after the close of trading, that in the first quarter it recorded a negative ebitda of 1.3 million euros.

At 07:05 GMT on Thursday, the selective Spanish stock market index Ibex-35 was down 54.60 points, or 0.59%, to 9,239.10 points, while the FTSE Eurofirst 300 index of large European stocks was down 0.10%.

Among the other stocks in the banking sector, Santander lost 1.11%, Caixabank dropped 0.35% and Unicaja Banco lost 0.20%.

Among the large non-financial stocks, Telefónica fell 0.34%, Inditex dropped 1.90% and Iberdrola lost 0.04%.

On the macro front, while awaiting important central bank meetings next week, the day will be closely followed by the April economic confidence report for the eurozone (09:00 GMT) and the US first quarter advance GDP report (12:30 GMT), which includes inflation measures.

(Reporting by Dario Fernandez; editing by Tomas Cobos)