(Bloomberg) — Norway’s wealth fund lost 1.9% in the year’s first quarter, dragged down by its investments in US technology stocks.
The value of the fund, managed by Norges Bank Investment Management, fell by 1.27 trillion Norwegian kroner ($137 billion), according to a statement Thursday. The total value of the fund was about 20 trillion kroner at the end of March.
“The result reflects a quarter with challenging market conditions,” Deputy Chief Executive Officer Trond Grande said in the statement. “We saw limited impact on fixed income and real estate, but it was the decline in equities, especially among large US technology companies, that determined the outcome.”
The world’s largest sovereign investor beat the benchmark it measures itself against by 1 basis point. The bulk of the fund is in equities, which lost 2.6%. Its second-biggest asset class, fixed income, fell by 0.2%, while unlisted real estate returned 1.2% and unlisted renewable energy infrastructure lost 1.9%.
The fund, created in the 1990s to invest Norway’s oil and gas revenues, has in past years seen cumulative returns from investments clearly exceed fossil fuel-linked deposits by the government. It’s seen poor results from real estate for some time, which led the fund to revamp its real estate strategy last year.
As with many other large investors, big tech has in recent quarters dominated the fund’s performance. NBIM’s largest holdings include Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp, Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc, and Nvidia Corp. The fund holds about 1.5% of all listed shares globally, corresponding to about 7,200 companies, and closely tracks global stock markets.
It follows a benchmark index set by the Finance Ministry and has limited scope for active investing. Stocks make up roughly 70% of the portfolio, bonds about 28%, and unlisted properties and green energy assets the remainder.
–With assistance from Stephen Treloar and Ott Ummelas.
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