Norway $2.3 Trillion Wealth Fund Posts Record-High Profit in H1

By Michael Kern of OilPrice.com

The world’s biggest sovereign wealth fund, Norway’s $2.3-trillion Government Pension Fund Global, posted a record-high profit of $185 billion for the first half of 2026, as Asian technology stocks boosted its returns and profit on the portfolio.

Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), which is commonly referred to as 'Norway's oil fund' because it was created with oil and gas revenues, is a shareholder in many large companies in the world, with more than half of the value of its equity investments in the U.S. market. The Norwegian fund was created in the 1990s, and today it holds, on average, 1.5% of all listed companies in the world.

For the first half of the year, the fund posted a record profit on the portfolio before foreign exchange adjustments at 1.753 billion Norwegian crowns, or $185 billion, the fund’s manager, Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM), said on Wednesday.

This is more than double compared to the profit for the first half of last year, amid a rally in technology stocks.

“The result is driven by good returns in the equity market, particularly from Asian technology stocks,” said Nicolai Tangen, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management.

The investments in the Government Pension Fund Global returned a record-high 9.4% in Norwegian crowns in the first half of 2026, up by 0.22 percentage points compared to the return on the benchmark index. The fund’s value was 22.683 trillion crowns, or $2.39 trillion, as of June 30, up by 1.416 trillion crowns, or $149 billion, from the same time a year earlier.

Equity investments accounted for 72.1% of the fund’s value at the end of the first half of 2026, and fixed-income investments for 25.8%. Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft are the most valuable investments of the Norwegian wealth fund.

The fund’s equity investments returned 13.0% in the first half of 2026, with telecommunications, technology, and energy delivering the strongest returns, NBIM said.

Earlier this month, NBIM told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it doesn’t support its proposal to scrap outright current requirements for climate-related risks and disclosures.