• Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said on Wednesday that equity investments had delivered a “very strong” return in the first half of the year.
• “The result was mainly driven by technology stocks, due to increased demand for new artificial intelligence solutions,” Tangen said in a statement.

Norway’s giant sovereign wealth fund reported a half-year profit of 1.48 trillion krone ($138 billion) on Wednesday, largely due to robust returns from its investments in technology stocks.

The so-called Government Pension Fund Global – the largest sovereign wealth fund in the world – said it was worth 17.75 trillion krone at the end of June.

The fund’s total return for the six-month period was 8.6%, 0.04 percentage points below the return of its benchmark index.

Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management, said on Wednesday that equity investments had delivered a “very strong” return in the first half of the year.

“The result was mainly due to technology stocks, due to increased demand for new solutions in the field of artificial intelligence,” Tangen noted.

Norway’s sovereign wealth fund, one of the world’s largest investors, was established in the 1990s to invest the surpluses from the country’s oil and gas sector. To date, the fund has invested in more than 8,700 companies in over 70 countries worldwide.

This breaking news story will be updated.