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Yngve Slyngstad Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva: - Norway’s Government Pension Fund Global returned 4.7%, or NOK167bn (Eur22.6bn; US$28.9bn) in the third quarter (Q3) of 2012 as global stock markets rallied. The fund returned 14.5% in the last 12 months and 6.5% in the last three years.

According to a fund’s Q3 report published by Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) earlier this month, returns contributions came from equity investments (6.5%) and fixed-income investments (2.2%). Investments in real estate gained 2.7%. The overall return was 0.03 percentage point lower than the return on the fund’s benchmark indices.

"The result was largely driven by a rally in global stock markets," said Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of NBIM , which manages the fund. "Stocks gained the most in Europe, where the fund has about half of its shareholdings."

Apple was the fund’s best-performing stock investment that quarter, followed by Google and German chemical company BASF, according to the quarterly report. The worst-performing stock was US semiconductor manufacturer Intel, followed by UK mining company Anglo American and BG Group, a British natural-gas producer.

The fund reduced its holdings of French and Spanish government debt during Q3. It boosted its investments in US and Japanese government bonds and......................

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