BEIJING, July 25 -- Insurers investment returns more than tripled in the first half due to rising returns from the red-hot equity market, the top insurance regulator said Tuesday.

    Insurance capital investment returns topped 137.4 billion yuan (US$18.18 billion) at the end of June, up 2.6 times from a year ago, Yuan Li, spokesperson of the China Insurance Regulatory Commission, said Tuesday in Beijing.

    Among the returns, share of stock investment is rising while that of bank deposits and bonds is dropping, Yuan said.

    Stock-related investment accounted for one-fifth of insurers' investment. Direct investment in the stock market accounted for 11.76 percent of insurers' total investment, while stock-oriented funds accounted for another 7.71 percent, making a combined equity investment share of 19.47 percent.

    The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has gained 40 percent in the first half and boosted the growth to 54 percent until yesterday. The index soared 130 percent last year.

    Insurers like China Life Insurance and Ping An Insurance are benefiting from the thriving stock market by reporting rising profits.

    "The investment vehicles of insurance assets have shown a clearer trend to diversification," said Yuan.

    Outstanding value of insurance investment capital sat at 2.31 trillion yuan, up 18.45 percent from January.

    Insurance assets grew 20.24 percent to 2.53 trillion yuan in the same period.

    Insurers have invested 19.7 billion yuan so far in overseas markets. China in 2004 allowed insurers to invest overseas by using their own foreign currency assets and further opened the door by allowing them to buy foreign currencies to invest overseas in 2006.

    China has collected 371.8 billion yuan in premiums in the first half of this year, up 20.7 percent from a year ago.