OSLO: Norway’s US$2.2 trillion sovereign wealth fund, the world’s largest, on Thursday reported a first-quarter (Q1) loss of NOK636 billion (US$68.44 billion) as the war in the Middle East weighed on global stocks.
Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), which holds around half of its funds in the US, posted a negative return of 1.9% for the January-March period, beating its benchmark index by 0.01 percentage point.
“The result reflects a quarter with challenging market conditions,” deputy CEO Trond Grande said in a statement.
“We saw limited impact on fixed income and real estate, but it was the decline in equities, especially among large US technology companies, that determined the outcome,” he added.
The war that began with the US and Israel launching coordinated strikes against Iran in late February left the S&P 500 stock index with its deepest quarterly decline since 2022, although markets have since recovered.