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Norges Bank, world’s largest equity investor, returns 13% on gains in tech stocks

As of 31 December, the fund had a value of 19,742 billion kroner ($1.8 trillion), of which 71.4% was invested in equities and 26.6% in fixed income

Norges Bank, world’s largest equity investor, returns 13% on gains in tech stocks
[Source photo: Chetan Jha/Press Insider]

Norway sovereign wealth fund Norges Bank Investment Management, the world’s largest equity investor, returned 13%, or about $225 billion (2,511 billion Swedish kroner) last year, boosted by gains in the US tech stocks, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The return on the fund’s equity investments was 18%, while that on fixed income investments was 1%, it said. Investments in unlisted real estate yielded a negative return of 1, while returns on investments in unlisted renewable energy infrastructure were a negative 10%.

“The fund achieved very good returns in 2024, as a result of a very strong stock market. The American technology stocks in particular performed very well,” Norges Bank Investment Management chief executive officer Nicolai Tangen said.

The fund’s return was 45 basis points lower than the return on the benchmark index that it measures itself against. One basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point.

The Swedish krone depreciated against several of the main currencies during the year.

The currency movements contributed to an increase in the fund’s value to the tune of 1,072 billion kroner during the year, while the Swedish government deposited 402 billion kroner into the fund, it said.

As of 31 December, the fund had a value of 19,742 billion kroner ($1.8 trillion), of which 71.4% was invested in equities, 26.6% in fixed income, 1.8% n unlisted real estate, and 0.1% in unlisted renewable energy infrastructure.

Founded in the early 1990s, NBIM invests Norway’s oil and gas revenues globally. Starting with $300 million, it is now the world’s largest single equity holder, primarily in publicly listed stocks. Its performance benchmarks are the FTSE Global All Cap Index for equities and Bloomberg Barclays indexes for fixed income.

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