Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, made a positive return of 1.8% on its investments in the second quarter of 2018 as higher global stock markets boosted its equity investments, it said Tuesday. Norges Bank Investment Management, the arm of the central bank that manages the so-called oil fund, said the annual return equated to 167 billion Norwegian kroner ($19.7 billion). Equity investments returned 2.7% in the quarter, while unlisted real-estate investments returned 1.9% and fixed-income investments 0.0%, NBIM said. The fund transferred NOK2 billion to the government in the quarter, but Mr. Grande said: "In June, the fund had its first inflow since 2015. The oil fund was set up in the 1990s to convert Norway's vast oil wealth to global financial assets, partly to shield the country's budget from oil-price fluctuations.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 21, 2018 08:37 UTC