Norway‘s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, earned 893 billion kroner (76.5 billion euros) in the first quarter, boosted by the stock market recovery, the Norwegian central bank in charge of its management announced Friday.
This performance, which represents a return of 5.9%, allows the fund, one of the largest investors on the planet, to erase about half of the colossal loss (151 billion euros) suffered last year. At the end of March, its value reached a staggering 14,294 billion kroner (1,223 billion euros), or nearly 2.6 million kroner for each of the 5.5 million Norwegians. “Equity investments contributed the most to performance during the quarter,” explained the fund’s number two, Trond Grande, in a statement.
“The rise in the equity market was largely driven by the technology sector and non-essentials” such as luxury goods, he added. Equity investments, which represented 70.1% of the portfolio, posted a positive return of 7.4% in the first quarter.
The fund has shares in more than 9,200 companies worldwide, representing the equivalent of 1.5% of the total market capitalization. Its bond investments (27.3% of its assets) gained 2.7% over the same period, while its investments in real estate and in unlisted renewable energies, which account for 2.4% and 0.1% respectively, fell into the red, at -1.0% and -3.8%.
The fund is supposed to make the Norwegian state’s oil and gas revenues work for the future spending of the Nordic country’s generous welfare state.
According to a ranking by the SFWI institute, the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund is the largest in the world but just ahead of the Chinese sovereign wealth fund China Investment Corporation (CIC). This is followed by funds from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait and Singapore.
