Norway's Government Pension Fund Global, Oslo, returned 1.3% in the three months ended June 30, bolstering total assets by 1.4% to 7.18 trillion Norwegian kroner ($850 billion).
In a financial update Wednesday, Norges Bank Investment Management, which runs the assets of the sovereign wealth fund, said the return was equivalent to a gain of 94 billion Norwegian kroner. That compares with a -0.6% return, or 85 billion Norwegian kroner loss, for the three months ended March 31.
For the year ended June 30, assets increased 4.1%. The return for the second quarter 2015 was -0.9%, or a 73 billion Norwegian kroner loss.
Equity investments, which account for a 59.6% portion of assets, returned 0.7%, compared with -2.9% for the previous three months. Fixed-income investments also made gains, with a 2.5% return. This followed a 3.3% return for the three months ended March 31. Fixed income accounted for 37.4% of the total portfolio as of June 30.
However, real estate investments, which make up 3% of the total portfolio, returned -1.4%, following a -1.3% return the previous quarter. In the update, NBIM said the U.K. vote to leave the European Union on June 23 “triggered significant movements in financial markets and considerable uncertainty. It has therefore been a challenge to value unlisted properties in the U.K. market.” The sovereign wealth fund's unlisted real estate investments returned -1.6% for the quarter. Details on its U.K. allocation could not be learned by press time.