China Life Insurance Company Co., the country's biggest insurer, said its first-half profit fell 36.16 percent, as a bearish stock market has squeezed investment return.

Its net profit was 10.77 billion yuan (US$1.54 billion) by June under China accountant standards, or 0.38 yuan per share, the company said in its half-year report on Monday.

During January to June period, its investment income was 34.2 billion yuan, down 0.66 percent over the same period a year earlier.

China Life's investment return was largely cut down by a recessive domestic stock market, which plummeted more than 55 percent this year. In face of the problem, the company reduced its stock and fund investments during the same period

The insurer's stock and fund investments accounted for 14.74 percent and 8.21 percent of the total investments value by the end of 2007, and the figures fell to 8.05 percent and 5.2 percent by June, respectively.

According to the report, the insurer's premium income surged by 50.06 percent to hit 182.06 billion yuan in the first half, accounting for 42.8 percent of the domestic market share, up 3.1 percentage points over 2007.

Its total assets was 913.02 billion yuan, representing an increase of 2.06 percent over last year.

The company ranked the 159th among the 2008 Fortune 500 list of top global companies, according to the U.S. Fortune magazine. It ranked 192nd in 2007.

China Life A-share has so far fallen by more than 70 percent from its peak. It gained 1.98 percent on Monday to close at 25.24 yuan.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2008)