Stocks News
- Insurers gain US$1.14b from stocks
Date: 29-Jan-2007 Sources: (Shenzhen Daily)
DOMESTIC insurers realized gains worth 8.9 billion yuan (US$1.14 billion) by investing in the booming domestic stock market last year, Xinhua reported Saturday.
The yield on the stock market was 27.1 percent, more than quadruple that of the whole insurance sector for 2006, Xinhua said, quoting Sun Jianyong, director of insurance funds at the industry's watchdog, China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).
Sun urged insurance firms to further cut bank savings and increase stock investments in their portfolio, the report said.
The gains made in the stock market accounted for about 10 percent of the sector's total gains last year at 93.2 billion yuan.
The Shanghai Securities News reported Friday that CIRC was considering allowing insurers to invest 10 percent of their total assets at the end of their previous financial year in stocks, up from the current 5 percent.
The benchmark Shanghai index rallied 130 percent last year as millions of Chinese poured into stocks.
Analysts said a big downturn remained unlikely as companies' strong earnings, the rising yuan and fledgling industries such as insurance seeking investment opportunities, aid stocks.
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