Riyadh – Mubasher: The value of Saudi Public Investment Fund's (PIF) portfolio increased by $3 billion during the earlier week, Reuters reported, citing PIF’s accounts.

Despite Saudi Arabia started anti-corruption crackdown that led to sharp declines in some stocks in the previous week, the Saudi body raised its value through investing in some stocks, the agency added.

During the week before, some stocks which are owned by PIF levelled up as the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia’s (NCB) stock, and Saudi Arabian Mining’s (Maaden) stock that surged 8.7%, and 4.7%, respectively.

“Some fund managers said government-linked funds - possibly the PIF itself - bought stocks in order to support the market and avert panic. The PIF did not respond to a request for comment on its market activity,” Reuters noted.

PIF aims to raise its assets to $400 billion by 2020, while its current assets’ value exceed $220 billion.