Mutual funds, 2006

The increase in mutual fund share capital is caused by a combination of positive net purchases of shares as well as the positive development in the Norwegian and foreign security markets throughout 2006. In 2006, net purchases of shares were NOK 33.3 billion. This represents a decrease of 55 per cent compared with the year before. It should be mentioned, however, that the net purchases were unusually high in 2005, with a total of NOK 69.9 billion net purchased.

Foreign equities

The securities’ funds are distributed as follows; 62 per cent are mutual funds, 5 per cent are combined funds, 11 per cent are bond funds and 22 per cent are money market funds. This also reflects what kind of securities the unit trusts have invested in. The unit trust has invested NOK 192 billion in shares equity, of which NOK 119 billion are invested in foreign equities. They have also invested NOK 59 billion in mutual fund shares of other mutual funds. This represents an increase from 2005, where NOK50 billion was invested in other mutual fund shares.

In 2006, the total profit for unit trusts were NOK 43.9 billion, a slight decrease from 2005 when the total profit was NOK48.3 billion. The decrease is primarily caused by a reduction in net changes of unrealized gains on securities by NOK 9.8 billion. This decrease is only partly compensated by the increase in realised profits on securities by NOK 4.2 billion.

Insurance growing

The insurance sector’s total owner share grew in 2006 to 27.7 per cent from 23.9 per cent in 2005. At the same time, households of employees reduced their share from 35.8 per cent to 28.8 per cent in 2006. Foreign investors increased their owner-share to 8.4 per cent of the total mutual fund share capital.

Tables

Published tables