China's insurers made a profit of 73.756 billion yuan (US$9.55 billion) on their investments in securities in 2006, accounting for 77.2 percent of their total profit, according to an official report released recently.

China's insurers invested about 92.9 billion yuan in the stock market in 2006, up 484.86 percent year on year, according to the report released by China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC). Direct investment by China's insurers in the stock market accounted for 5.22 percent of their total assets by the end of 2006, nearly four percentage higher than at the end of 2005.

Of the 1.779 trillion yuan in total investments by the end of 2006, China's insurers invested 945.1 billion yuan in bonds in 2006, up 27.37 percent year on year, and 91.2 billion yuan in securities-oriented funds in 2006, down 17.61 percent year on year.

They also deposited 598.9 billion yuan in banks by the end of 2006, up 25.94 percent year on year.

(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2007)