Norway's wealth fund earned US$46b in Q1 as stocks rose

[OSLO] Norway's US$1.3 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, posted a first-quarter profit thanks to strong stock markets, it said on Wednesday.

The fund had a 4 per cent return on investment, earning US$45.7 billionbetween January and March, beating its own benchmark index.

"The rise of the equity market was to a great extent driven by the finance and energy sectors," the fund's deputy CEO Trond Grande said in a statement.

While stocks earned a return of 6.6 per cent, the fixed income portfolio had a loss of 3.2 per cent while unlisted real estate had a positive return of 1.4 per cent.

The fund invests the Norwegian state's revenues from oil and gas production into 9,100 companies worldwide, owning 1.4 per cent of all listed shares globally, and also invests in bonds, property and green infrastructure.

REUTERS