In the first half of last year it had a profit of 10.84 bln yuan on its stock investments.
The mainland's largest life insurer attributed the loss mainly to the "deep downturn of the capital market in the first half of this year."
Net investment income rose 5.11 pct to 25.3 bln yuan from 24.07 bln due mainly to improved yields from fixed-income investment assets.
However, overall turnover slipped 2.11 pct to 99.28 bln yuan from 101.43 bln a year earlier as a result of the loss that it incurred in its stock market investments.
Earnings per share were 0.56 yuan, down from 0.82 a year earlier.
It said gross written premiums and policy fees in the first half rose 24.36 pct to 79.29 bln yuan, with first-year regular gross written premiums up 22.87 pct to 19.87 bln.
It said the group remains China's leading life insurer with a 42.8 pct market share at the end of the first half, up 3.1 percentage points from the end of 2007.
The board did not recommend an interim dividend.
(1 usd = 6.85 yuan)
jun.concepcion@xfn.com
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