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Norway’s sovereign wealth fund — the largest of its kind in the world — posted full-year profit of 2,5 trillion kroner (US$222.4 billion) on Wednesday, fuelled by a tech rally.
The fund’s 2024 profit surpassed the record set a year earlier, when it achieved full-year profit of 2,22 trillion kroner.
The Government Pension Global Fund was valued at 19,7 trillion kroner at the end of 2024, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) said in an earnings report. The fund’s return on investment came in at 13 percent for the year, 45 basis points lower than the return on its benchmark index.
“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 CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement.
Speaking at a press conference on Wednesday, NBIM Deputy CEO Trond Grande described a “very, very strong year for equities” as the biggest driver of the fund’s return in 2024.
More specifically, he noted returns had been driven by certain sectors, particularly as a result of a boom in tech stocks.
“Tech [has been] really strong, driven by AI, and also financials due to interest rates being higher for longer,” he said.
NBIM manages the fund on behalf of the Norwegian population. Set up in the 1990s to invest excess revenues from Norway’s oil and gas industry, the fund is currently an investor in more than 8,000 companies across 63 countries.
The fund is a shareholder in global companies including tech giants Apple with 70 percent of its benchmark index comprised of equities.
The sovereign wealth fund also invests in fixed income, including government and corporate bonds, as well as in real estate and renewable energy infrastructure. — CNBC
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