European stock markets closed lower on Monday, but Spanish stocks outperformed as strong economic data fueled expectations for Spain's economic recovery and stimulated buying interest in the country's stock market.
The Spanish IBEX index closed 0.9% higher after data showed that Spain's service sector grew at its fastest pace in six and a half years. Most other European stock markets closed lower.
Datastream data shows that strong economic data has helped the broader MSCI Spain Index surge by approximately 30% over the past six months, making it the best performer among major European stock indices.
Deutsche Bank strategist Gareth Evans stated, "We believe this is the beginning of improving economic data, and we expect this to continue." He anticipates that the Spanish and Italian stock markets will outperform the 14% gain of the STOXX Europe 600 index this year.