The facade of Norway’s central bank, also known as Norges Bank, in Oslo, Norway.
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Norges Bank Investment Management — the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world — on Thursday reported a first-quarter loss of 415 billion kroner ($40 billion), citing weakness in the tech sector.
“The quarter has been impacted by significant market fluctuations. Our equity investments had a negative return, largely driven by the tech sector,” CEO Nicolai Tangen said in a statement.
The fund’s value hit 18.53 trillion kroner at the end of March, with 70% of its investment placed in equities — an asset class for which it recorded a loss of 1.6%.
The fund’s market value decreased by 1.215 trillion kroner through the first quarter, largely due to adverse currency movements. “The krone strengthened against several of the main currencies during the quarter. The currency movements contributed to a decrease in the fund’s value of -879 billion kroner,” the fund said in a statement.
This breaking news story is being updated.
