OSLO (Reuters) – Norway’s $1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, posted a first-quarter profit thanks to strong stock markets, it said on Wednesday.
The fund had a 4.0% return on investment, earning 382 billion crowns ($45.7 billion) between January and March, beating its own benchmark index.
“The rise of the equity market was to a great extent driven by the finance and energy sectors,” the fund’s deputy CEO Trond Grande said in a statement.
While stocks earned a return of 6.6%, the fixed income portfolio had a loss of 3.2% while unlisted real estate had a positive return of 1.4%.
The fund invests the Norwegian state’s revenues from oil and gas production into 9,100 companies worldwide, owning 1.4% of all listed shares globally, and also invests in bonds, property and green infrastructure.
($1 = 8.3575 Norwegian crowns)
(Reporting by Gwladys Fouche, editing by Terje Solsvik)
