Norway’s Sovereign Wealth Fund, the world’s biggest, earned 893 billion kroner (€76.5 billion) in the first quarter, buoyed by the stock market rally, the Norwegian central bank, which is in charge of its management, said on Friday.
This performance represents a 5.9% return. It allows the fund, which is also one of the world’s biggest investors, to wipe out about half of the colossal loss (€151 billion) suffered last year.
At the end of March, the fund's value reached a staggering 14,294 billion kroner (€1,223 billion), or nearly 2.6 million kroner for each of Norway’s 5.5 million people.
“Equity investments contributed the most to returns during the quarter,” the fund’s number two, Trond Grande, said in a statement. “The rise in the equity market was largely driven by the technology sector and non-core assets” such as luxury goods, he added.
Equity investments, which made up 70.1% of the portfolio, posted a positive return of 7.4% in the first quarter. The fund has stakes in more than 9,200 companies worldwide, representing the equivalent of 1.5% of total market capitalisation.
Bond investments (27.3% of assets) gained 2.7% in the same period while investments in real estate and unlisted renewables, which account for 2.4% and 0.1% respectively, came out in the red, at -1.0% and -3.8%.
The fund, which invests the Norwegian state’s oil and gas revenues, is intended to finance future spending by the Nordic country’s generous welfare state.
