OSLO: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, posted a gain of more than $100 billion in the first quarter amid the global stock market recovery, it said Thursday.
The oil fund — as it is commonly known since it is fuelled by the Norwegian state’s oil and gas revenues — had a return of 6.3 percent in the first three months of the year. The $107 billion gain brought the fund’s total value to a dizzying 17.7 trillion kroner ($1.6 trillion) at the end of March, or almost $291,000 for each of Norway’s 5.5 million inhabitants.
“Our equity investments had a very strong return in the first quarter, particularly driven by the tech sector,” the fund’s deputy chief executive Trond Grande said in a statement.
Shares, which accounted for 72.1 percent of the fund’s portfolio, saw a 9.1 percent return in the first quarter, buoyed by a stock market rally amid the prospect of falling interest rates.
The fund is the biggest single investor in the world, with stakes in some 9,000 companies around the globe and representing 1.5 percent of the total market capitalisation.
Its bond investments, representing 26 percent of assets, meanwhile fell by 0.4 percent in the first quarter.
Its real estate holdings and those in unlisted renewable energy projects also fell, by 0.5 percent and 11.4 percent respectively.
Created in the early 1990s, the fund is aimed at financing future spending in Norway’s generous welfare state as revenue from oil and gas exports are expected to decline over the long term.
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