(Bloomberg) -- Norway’s $1 trillion wealth fund rose $28.5 billion in the second quarter ahead of market turmoil that drove equities lower over the past month and saw bond yields plunge further below zero.
- Fund returned 3%, or 256 billion kroner ($28.5 billion)
- Stocks rose 3.0%, bonds 3.1% and real estate 0.8%
- Fund held 69.3% in equities, 28.0% in bonds and 2.7% in real estate
The Oslo-based fund, which holds 1.4% of global stocks on average, closely mirrors the broad markets, though it has some leeway in how it weighs indexes and strays from its benchmarks. The fund snapped up stocks in a selloff at the end of last year, then hitting its long-term target of 70% in equities.
The investor, built from Norway’s oil and gas riches, has pared losses from 2018 but faces a tough market outlook amid a turbulent month.
The fund said it has more than 600 billion kroner in bonds with negative yields, or about a quarter of its fixed-income portfolio, adding pressure as it struggles to keep up with its 3% real return target.
The largest stock holdings at the end of the quarter were Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT)., Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL). and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN). Its largest bond holdings were in U.S. Treasuries, followed by Japanese and German government debt.
In the second quarter, the government deposited 6 billion kroner into the fund, down from 8 billion kroner in the first quarter.
The fund’s return in the quarter missed its benchmark by 0.2 percentage point.
