Norway's sovereign wealth fund posts 1.3 pct return in Q2

Norway's sovereign wealth fund posted a 1.3 percent return, or 94 billion kroner (11.41 billion U.S. dollars), in the second quarter of 2016, the fund said on Wednesday.

Equity, fixed-income and real estate investments returned 0.7 percent, 2.5 percent and minus 1.4 percent respectively in the quarter, according to a statement of the fund, formally known as the Government Pension Fund Global and ranked as the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund.

"After a period of relatively stable markets at the beginning of the quarter, the British decision to leave the EU sparked a sharp decline in Europe," said Trond Grande, deputy CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, which is the part of the Norwegian central bank that is responsible for managing the fund.

"Markets recovered relatively quickly, but with major variations between sectors. Financials, for example, performed weakly," he said.

"The fund's fixed-income investments received price gains due to falling interest rates. In the long term, however, lower interest rates have negative implications for future returns on the fixed-income portfolio," Grande said.

In the second quarter of the year, 24 billion kroner was withdrawn from the fund. The Norwegian government extracted 25 billion kroner from the fund in the first quarter, which was the first time it withdrew money from the country's huge sovereign wealth fund.

The fund had a market value of 7,177 billion kroner on June 30 this year, of which 59.6 percent was invested in equities, 37.4 percent in fixed income and 3.1 percent in real estate. (1 U.S. dollar=8.23 Norwegian kroner) Endit