European equities closed mixed Friday, trading cautiously after heavy losses, as investors dismissed concerns over the growing political conflict in Yemen.

The pan-European Euro Stoxx 600 Index (STOXX: .STOXX) closed slightly higher. Airline stocks (STOXX: .SXTP) - with their heavy exposure to oil - were the major outperformers after the sector sold off heavily on Thursday as the oil price rose.

The price of the commodity initially spiked on concerns that the Yemen conflict could close the Bab-el-Mandeb strait, a key shipping route for oil tankers located between Yemen and Djibouti. However, fears of a closure eased on Friday as oil prices resumed their declines; U.S. crude and Brent both fell nearly 2 percent during Asian trade following a 5 percent surge overnight.

"The spike in oil prices caused by the Saudi military incursions into Yemen, has all the hallmarks of a classic knee jerk market reaction," Michael Hewson, the chief market analyst at CMC Markets, said in a morning note.

"We saw similar spikes last year with Ukraine, Libya and ISIS pushing into Iraq before markets settled back down again, and it is likely that these concerns about Yemen could follow a similar pattern."

Mining stocks (STOXX: .SXPP) showed some weakness on Friday with a continued slump in the price of iron ore and a fall in gold's price as investors returned to risk assets. The sector helped Europe bourses to pare early gains and trade mixed with the FTSE 100 (FTSE International: .FTSE) falling into negative territory.

Investors will be focused on Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen's speech on Friday and the release of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) for the first quarter. Yellen is due to speak just before the closing bell of U.S. markets on Friday, meaning European bourses would have already closed for the weekend.

Elsewhere, a Bundesbank conference on debt and financial stability began on Friday morning. Key speakers at the event in Germany included central bankers Jens Weidmann and Mark Carney.

U.S. stocks traded mostly higher on Friday as equities attempted to break the week's decline and investors remained cautious ahead of first quarter earnings in April.

In individual stocks news, shares of Novo Nordisk (Copenhagen Stock Exchange: NOVO.B-DK) surged 10 percent after the pharma firm announced it was resubmitting a new insulin drug for clinical trials in the U.S.

Sports outfitter Adidas (XETRA: ADS-DE) also rose, up 2.8 percent, with a price target upgrade from Deutsche Bank.

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