China Ping An will be included into stocks covered by the benchmark Hang Seng Index for the capital market of the Hong Kong special administrative region on June 4, company sources confirmed on Saturday.

It will become the second insurance blue-chip counter for Hang Seng Index from the Chinese mainland after China Life.

The Hang Seng Index currently tracks 38 component stocks at the present time, whose combined value accounts for 90 percent of the total market capitalization of the Hong Kong stock exchange.

The sources said including China Ping An into Hang Seng component stocks signified the international capital market's recognition of the company's impressive growth and stable return on investment.

China Ping An was listed in Hong Kong in June 2004. Its share price has since soared by more than 340 percent, five times the Hang Seng Index growth.

China Ping An Insurance Company, one of the nation's leading life and property insurers, raked in 3.96 billion yuan (514.3 million U.S. dollars) in net profits in the first quarter, against its net profits of 5.99 billion yuan (777.9 million U.S. dollars) for entire 2006.

Earnings per share stood at 0.59 yuan, and its returns against net assets at 4.4 percent.

Gross assets of the Shanghai and Hong Kong-listed company amounted to 528.3 billion yuan (68.6 billion U.S. dollars) at the end of March, up 14 percent from the end of 2006, and its shareholders' equities at 87.9 billion yuan (11.4 billion U.S. dollars), up 94.2 percent. The company's assets per share reached 11.97 yuan, up 63.7 percent.

China Ping An realized 5.99 billion yuan (777.9 million U.S. dollars) in net profits last year, up 79.3 percent year-on-year. It took in 68.99 billion yuan (8.96 billion U.S. dollars) in life insurance premiums, up 17.2 percent, and 16.86 billion yuan (2.19 billion U.S. dollars) in property insurance premiums, up 32.1 percent.

Source: Xinhua