Norway wealth fund posts record $164 billion loss

OSLO (Reuters) - Norway's $1.3 trillion wealth fund, one of the world's largest investors, on Tuesday reported a record loss of 1.64 trillion crowns ($164.4 billion) for 2022.

The previous largest loss was 633 billion crowns in 2008.

The fund's return on investment stood at minus 14.1% for the year, which was 0.88 percentage point better than the return on the fund's benchmark index.

"The market was impacted by war in Europe, high inflation, and rising interest rates. This negatively impacted both the equity market and bond market at the same time, which is very unusual," Chief Executive Nicolai Tangen said in a statement.

Founded in 1996, the fund invests revenue from Norway's oil and gas sector and holds stakes in some 9,300 companies globally, owning 1.3% of all listed stocks. It also invests in bonds, unlisted real estate and renewable energy projects.

($1 = 9.9752 Norwegian crowns)

(Reporting by Victoria Klesty, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Terje Solsvik)