Norway's sovereign wealth fund posts first negative return in three years

Norway's sovereign wealth fund posted a -0.9 percent return, or a loss of 73 billion Norwegian kroner (8.79 billion U.S. dollars), in the second quarter of 2015, the first negative quarterly return in three years, the fund said on Wednesday.

Equity, fixed-income and real estate investments returned -0.2 percent, -2.2 percent and 2.0 percent respectively in the quarter, 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.

"The return on fixed-income investments was affected by an increase in yields in the fund's main markets. On the equity side, U.S. stocks pulled down the result," 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.

The fund had a market value of 6,897 billion kroner on June 30, of which 62.8 percent was invested in equities, 34.5 percent in fixed income and 2.7 percent in real estate.

In the first quarter of 2015, the sovereign wealth fund returned 5.3 percent, or 401 billion kroner, the highest ever quarterly return in krone terms.

The last time the fund registered a negative return was the second quarter of 2012, when it posted a -2.2 percent return, or a loss of 77 billion kroner, as global stock markets declined. (1 U.S. dollar = 8.30 Norwegian kroner) Enditem