Norway’s US$1.4 trillion sovereign wealth fund lost 2.1 per cent, or US$34 billion, in the third quarter after equity markets were dented by global growth concerns and prospects of higher interest rates for longer.

The world’s biggest single owner of listed companies lost 2.1 per cent on stocks in the period and 2.2 per cent on fixed-income investments, according to a statement on Tuesday (Oct 24). Overall, the fund’s total return was 0.17 percentage points higher than that of the benchmark against which it measures itself. It last reported a quarterly loss a year ago.

“The stock market saw a weaker quarter compared to the two previous quarters,” deputy chief executive officer Trond Grande said in the statement. “It was particularly the tech, industrials and consumer discretionary sectors which contributed negatively to the return.”

The loss comes after tech stocks including Apple, Microsoft and NVIDIA helped fuel a 10 per cent return for the investor in the first half of the year, a rebound from a year earlier when surging inflation weighed on global markets.

Inflation remains problematic, chief executive officer Nicolai Tangen said in August, adding that heat and extreme weather linked to climate change make it harder to bring prices under control.

Created in the 1990s to invest Norway’s oil and gas revenues abroad, the fund – also known as Norges Bank Investment Management – owns about 1.5 per cent of global equities, largely tracking a benchmark index based on a framework handed down by parliament.

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NBIM lost 3.3 per cent on its unlisted real estate holdings, while the loss on unlisted renewable-energy infrastructure was 2.4 per cent. 

The government deposited US$13 billion into the fund in the quarter. BLOOMBERG