Europe close: Stocks deliver bumper returns for US dollar investors in 2017

European stocks saw a large decline on the last day of trading of 2017, weighed down by another push higher in the single currency as government bond yields diverged again on either side of the Pond, especially out on the euro area's periphery.

By the close of trading, the benchmark Stoxx 600 was off by a very slight 0.36 points to 389.18, helped by an advance in shares of companies in the Basic Resources space, with a gauge for the group jumping 0.83% to 472.79.

Milan's FTSE Mibtel on the other hand was down by 1.21% to 21,853.34 after the country's President, Sergio Mattarela called elections for 4 March, perhaps inadvertently giving traders a firm date to hone in on.

Germany's Dax was also lower, trading down 0.48% to 12,917.64, with a gain of 0.60% in euro/dollar to 1.2010 exerting a drag after readings on consumer prices in the country overshot economists' forecasts.

For 2017 as a whole, the single currency was markedly higher, having kicked the year off from around the 1.05 level in its cross against the US dollar.

Despite that headwind, both the Dax and the Mibtel managed to close the year with gains of roughly 13% each. By way of comparison, in local currency terms the S&P 500 notched up an advance of 20%.

The rather directionless trading on Friday came on the back of another record close on Wall Street overnight, with the Dow Jones making its 71st record high of the year, but a mixed Asian session.

Economic news in the last tarding session of the year was mixed.

Spanish consumer price inflation was an early data point for the region, with a below-forecast reading of 1.3% for December after the previous month's 1.8% mark (consensus: 1.5%), according to INE.

In Germany on the other hand, the rate of advance in harmonised consumer prices slowed by much less than forecast, from 1.8% year-on-year in November to 1.7% (consensus: 1.5%).

Among individual companies, Airbus was down only slightly despite reports that the company could end production of the A380 superjumbo if it does not receive a new order from Emirates. Reports emerged overnight that the Toulouse-headquartered aeroplane maker was drawing up plans to phase out production of the A380, though the company said the claims were "speculation" as talks over new orders were continuing.

More positively, China Aircraft Leasing Group inked a deal to purchase 50 Airbus A320neos at a list price of $5.42bn.

In other news, German carmaker Volkswagen announced it would ask the country's Constitutional court to revoke the appointment of a special auditor to investigate the possible involvement of management in the diesel emissions scandal.