European stocks inched lower amid thin trading, with investors signaling reluctance to extend a rally as the last full trading week of 2016 unfolded. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2 percent at 11:54 a.m. in London, on trading volume that was 42 percent lower than the 30-day average. While most industry groups declined, travel and health-care shares bucked the trend. Actelion Ltd. jumped 4.4 percent as it restarted talks with Johnson & Johnson about a possible deal, just a week after ending earlier discussions. Equities are drifting lower after the Stoxx 600 reached its highest level in almost a year. While Spanish lenders weighed on the benchmark on Wednesday, about 21 percent of the European gauge’s members set new 4-week highs. The Stoxx 600 is 1.6 percent away from wiping out is 2016 decline. Strategists expect the gauge to end 2017 at 366, 1.5 percent higher than Wednesday’s close, according to the average of nine estimates compiled by Bloomberg. While analysts see profit at the benchmark’s firms declining 2.2 percent this year, they expect growth of more than 12 percent in 2017. The Euro Stoxx 50 has gained more than twice as much as the S&P 500 in December, erasing its annual losses. Optimism about earnings and growth in the region next year is sending the gauge to its biggest December advance since 1999.

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