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Norwegian sovereign wealth fund achieves highest quarterly return

Xinhua, April 30, 2015 Adjust font size:

Norway's sovereign wealth fund achieved a return of 5.3 percent, or 401 billion kroner (53 billion U.S. dollars), in the first quarter of 2015, the highest ever quarterly return in krone terms, the fund said on Wednesday.

Previously the two best quarters in the fund's history in krone terms were back in 2009 when the fund returned 270 billion kroner in the second quarter and 325 billion kroner in the third, according to a statement of the fund, formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG) and ranked as the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund.

"There were big price movements in the European market. After a weak return on European stocks last year, the market rallied in the first quarter," said Yngve Slyngstad, chief executive officer of Norges Bank Investment Management, which is the part of the Norwegian central bank that is responsible for managing the fund.

In the first quarter of 2015, equity investments returned 7.5 percent, and fixed-income investments of 1.6 percent. The return on these investments was 0.2 percentage point higher than the return on the benchmark indices. Investments in real estate returned 3.1 percent.

The krone weakened against many of the main currencies during the quarter, which increased the fund's value by 175 billion kroner, and new capital of 5 billion kroner was transferred from the government.

The fund had a market value of 7,012 billion kroner on March 31, of which 62.5 percent was invested in equities, 35.3 percent in fixed income and 2.3 percent in real estate.

The market value of the fund was 6,431 billion kroner at the end of 2014, of which 61.3 percent was invested in equities, 36.5 percent in fixed income and 2.2 percent in real estate. Endit