China Life Insurance Company Limited, the country's largest life insurer, posted a first-half net profit of 13.92 billion yuan (US$2.04 billion), up 29.22 percent year on year.

The figures were compiled according to the Accounting Standards for Business Enterprises for domestic companies on the Chinese mainland.

China Life said premium revenue was 172.82 billion yuan (US$25.30 billion) in the first half, down 5.08 percent, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange posted on Tuesday.

The rise of net profit could be attributed to a booming stock market that boosted China Life's returns on investments, according to the filing.

China Life's investment returns topped 32.19 billion yuan and the investment returns rate was 3.27 percent, up 0.94 percentage points from the same period last year.

China Life's total assets topped 1.10 trillion yuan, up 11.34 percent from the end of last year.

Following Hong Kong Financial Reporting Standards, China Life reported 18.2 billion yuan of net profit in the first half, up 15.2 percent year on year.

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2009)