Equity investments returned 3.1 percent. Unlisted real estate investments returned 1.9 percent, and fixed-income investments -0.3 percent. The overall return on the fund was 0.2 percentage point lower than the return on the benchmark index.

North American stocks gained during the quarter, while the rest of global equity markets had a weaker development.

"The market development was affected by expectations of differing economic growth and uncertainty about the effects of increased trade barriers," says Yngve Slyngstad, CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management.

The krone appreciated against several of the main currencies during the quarter. This contributed to decreasing the value of the fund by 46 billion kroner. In the third quarter, the inflow to the fund was 12 billion kroner.

The fund had a market value of 8,478 billion kroner as at 30 September 2018 and was invested 67.6 percent in equities, 2.7 percent in unlisted real estate and 29.7 percent in fixed income.

The report is available at www.nbim.no

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