Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway, holds a meeting on Tuesday, October 17, 2023 in Oslo, Norway.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Norway’s massive sovereign wealth fund on Wednesday reported first-half profits of 1.48 trillion kronor ($138 billion), helped by strong returns on its investments in technology stocks.
The world’s largest sovereign wealth fund – the so-called Global Government Pension Fund – said it was worth 17.75 trillion crowns at the end of June.
The fund’s overall return over the six-month period was 8.6%, 0.04 percentage points lower than the benchmark index return.
Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management explain On Wednesday, equity investments posted “very strong” returns in the first half of the year.
“This result was primarily driven by technology stocks as demand for new artificial intelligence solutions increased,” Tangen noted.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund said its equity portfolio returned 12.5% ​​in the first half of the year, while its fixed income and unlisted real estate portfolio posted marginal losses.
The fund reported a negative return of 17.7% on its unlisted renewable energy infrastructure portfolio in the first six months of the year. The company said higher capital costs had an adverse impact on the value of investments in the January to June period.
Looking ahead, NBIM’s Tangen told a news conference that stocks are not expected to rise as they have in previous years, according to Reuters.
Tangen reportedly said that a large amount of uncertainty and a “completely different geopolitical situation” mean that global stock markets now face more risks.
Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, was established in the 1990s to invest surplus revenues from the country’s oil and gas industry. To date, the fund has invested in more than 8,700 companies in more than 70 countries around the world.
