The Amsterdam AEX blue-chip index closed 2017 up 16.5% at 555.22 points on Friday. The Midkap index did even better, noting a total return of 24.7% over the year but the smallcap index AScX topped the lot with a rise of 34.4%.

The rise in the Amsterdam indices is part of a global trend, with the S&P 500, the FTSE and the DAX30 in Frankfurt all booking new records, the Financieele Dagblad noted.

Although the three semi-conductor stocks traded in Amsterdam all beat their respective indices, the best performer was BE Semiconductor Industries, the Financieele Dagblad said.

‘If you had invested €1 in the Duiven-based firm on December 30, 2016, it would not be worth €2.30,’ the FD said.

Air France-KLM was another strong performer, rising from €5.17 at the beginning of the year to close at €13.58 on Friday afternoon.

Gorilla

Despite the positive AEX performance, a random basket of shares traded by a computer increased in value 27% over the year, according to investment website Beursgorilla.

The original share basket was selected 10 years ago by a gorilla called Jacko who picked his favourites from a choice of 25 bananas. But problems with filming the gorilla making his pick every month mean a computer simulated gorilla has now taken over the job, website RTLZ said.

Jacko and his computer namesake have beaten the AEX in 14 of the 18 years the experiment has been running, RTLZ said.