Norway wealth fund posts 100bn euros gain in 2020

OSLO: Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's biggest, racked up gains of more than 100 billion euros in 2020 despite market turbulence caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the central bank said Thursday.

The fund registered a return of 10.9 percent last year, or 1.07 trillion kroner (101.5 billion euros) -- its second biggest gain ever -- boosted mainly by tech stocks.

At the end of December, the fund was worth the astronomical sum of 10.9 trillion kroner (1.03 trillion euros).

"Despite the pandemic having put its mark on 2020, it has been yet another good year for the fund," central bank governor Oystein Olsen said in a statement.

"However, the high return also reminds us that the market value of the fund might vary a lot going forward," he added.

The fund, which is aimed at financing the future needs of Norway's generous welfare state and in which the state places its oil revenues, registered a 12.1 percent gain on its stock investments, which represented 72.8 percent of its portfolio.

The gains were made almost exclusively in the fourth quarter, amid "positive news on vaccine" developments in the fight against Covid-19, the fund's deputy CEO Trond Grande told reporters.

Invested in more than 9,200 companies, the fund controls about 1.5 percent of the world's market capitalisation.

"Technology companies had the highest return in 2020, with a return of 41.9 percent. This is mainly due to the pandemic resulting in a massive increase in the demand for products for online working, education, trade and entertainment," the head of the fund, Nicolai Tangen, said.

US tech giants accounted for most of the gains, with Apple pulling in 84 billion kroner, Amazon 51 billion, Microsoft 41 billion and Tesla 36 billion.

Meanwhile, oil-and-gas and finance stocks weighed down the results.

Geographically, the best performances were registered in the US and China, while Britain, then in full-on Brexit mode, accounted for losses of around 70 billion kroner.

The fund's bond holdings, which accounted for 24.7 percent of its assets, posted a 7.5 percent gain, while its real estate holdings, accounting for 2.5 percent of its portfolio, posted a loss of 0.1 percent.

The total value of the fund, which is invested solely outside of Norway, also benefitted from a weakening of the Norwegian krone against several major currencies, to the tune of 58 billion kroner.

The Norwegian government did however tap 298 billion kroner in 2020 to support the economy and limit the effects of the pandemic.