ZURICH: The Swiss National Bank (SNB) owned US equities worth a record US$162bil (RM683.57bil) as of end June, reaping the benefits of a rallying market.

       Data published showed the SNB held shares in 2,642 companies, including a US$6bil (RM25.31bil) stake in Amazon Inc and one worth US$1.1bil (RM4.64bil) in Exxon Mobil Corp.

       The quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission offers a rare bit of insight into the SNB’s individual equity holdings, which it has accumulated during its long-running campaign to weaken the franc via currency-market interventions.

       Climate-change activists have taken a keen interest in central banks’ asset purchases, and a group of protesters in the Swiss capital of Bern called on the SNB last Friday to sell its investments in firms that harm the environment.

       With foreign-exchange reserves of more than 920 billion francs (US$1.01 trillion or RM4.24 trillion), the SNB has already decided to exclude companies that mine coal for energy production.

       Yet its overall investment strategy is to mirror indexes and serve the objectives of monetary policy.

       As of the end of the second quarter, 23% of its foreign-exchange reserves were in equities, with the lion’s share in highly rated government bonds.

       A spokeswoman for the central bank declined to comment on the SEC filing.

       The at-times massive foreign-exchange interventions got Switzerland branded a currency manipulator by the US Treasury late last year. The label was dropped in April.Following its most recent policy meeting, the SNB said the franc remained “highly valued” and confirmed its strategy of negative interest rates plus a pledge to use foreign-exchange interventions if needed.

       The SNB owned foreign exchange worth 923 billion francs (US$1.01 trillion or RM4.24 trillion) in July, the results of a long-running campaign to control the value of the franc that raised red flags with the previous US administration.

       The SNB’s pile of currencies dropped 2% last month versus June, as the franc appreciated against the dollar and the euro.

       A spokeswoman for the SNB declined to comment on the decline.

       Switzerland’s official reserves are among the largest in the world, International Monetary Fund data show.

       The US Treasury branded the country a currency manipulator during the final days of Donald Trump’s presidency. The label was dropped in April. — Bloomberg