Spanish shares gain 1.96 pct Thursday

MADRID, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- Spanish shares rose on Thursday, with the benchmark stock market index Ibex-35 up 1.96 percent or 198.40 points, to close at 10,314.40 points.

A total of 30 of the selected 35 large companies gained in the day.

Spain's energy company Iberdrola advanced 3.42 percent, followed by telecommunication company Cellnex and Spain's largest bank Banco Santander that rose 3.37 percent and 3.35 percent respectively.

Hotel chain Melia Hotels lost 0.86 percent, being the top loser of the blue chips. Airline group IAG fell 0.82 percent and supermarket chain DIA went down 0.75 percent. Enditem