Norway's $2 trillion sovereign wealth fund — the largest of its kind in the world — on Wednesday reported a 5.8% return during the third quarter, powered by strong stock market gains across basic materials, telecommunications and financial services.
Norges Bank Investment Management (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 enormous fund currently invests in assets across 70 countries.
At the end of September, the Government Pension Fund Global had a value of 20.4 trillion Norwegian kroner ($2 trillion), an increase of 854 billion Norwegian kroner during the the three-month period. The accounting value was 1.03 trillion kroner, translating into a profit of $102.56 billion.
The fund's return was 0.06% lower than the benchmark index, NBIM said Wednesday. The return on its equity investments for the quarter was 7.7%.
"The result is driven by strong returns in the stock market, particularly in basic materials, telecommunications and the financial sector", Trond Grande, deputy CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said in a statement.
U.S. stocks account for almost 40% of NBIM's equity investments.
Among NBIM's U.S. equity holdings are stakes in tech giants Meta , Alphabet , Amazon , Nvidia and Microsoft . The fund is also a major shareholder in companies including JP Morgan Chase , Walmart , Eli Lilly and Coca Cola .