Norway's sovereign wealth fund, the world's largest, shrank by some 1.68 trillion kroner (€170 billion) in the first half of the year, weighed down by tech stocks, the Norwegian central bank said on Wednesday. The fund, in which the state places its oil revenues, posted a negative return of 14.4 per cent in the first six months of the year, with its total value dropping to 11.65 trillion kroner at the end of June. "Percentage-wise, it's the second-biggest decline for a half-year result" since the fund was created in 1996 "and the biggest decline in kroner", the head of the fund, Nicolai Tangen, said in a presentation. Since the start of the year, markets have been rocked by rising interest rates and high inflation due in particular to soaring energy prices and the war in Ukraine, all of which are fuelling fears of a recession. The fund was weighed down primarily by its equity holdings, which declined by 17 per cent. Technology stocks performed particularly poorly during the period, registering a 28 per cent fall as the end of restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic dragged down giants such as Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft. Energy was...