Insurers hike Q1 stock holdings by 19%

Chinese insurers increased their stock holdings by 19 percent in the first quarter of this year, helped by the strong rally in the country's capital markets since February, the industry regulator said yesterday.

Around 288.6 billion yuan, or 9 percent of the insurers' total investments, were in stocks and equities as of March 31, according to the China Insurance Regulatory Commission (CIRC).

"The proportion is one percentage point higher than the beginning of this year," said Yuan Li, spokesman of the CIRC.