THE China Pacific Insurance Group said yesterday it posted a heavy loss in the third quarter of this year because of investment losses and the expiry of its plan to list shares in Hong Kong.

China Pacific, the nation's third-biggest insurer, logged a loss of 1.64 billion yuan (US$242 million) in the July-September period, compared with a net profit of 1.93 billion yuan a year before, according to an exchange filing.

Net income for the January-September period reached 3.88 billion yuan, down from 5.75 billion yuan a year before, the insurer said. Gross revenue increased 20.8 percent year on year to 82.34 billion yuan in the first nine months.

"The stock market slump has given insurers' equity investments a heavy loss and has greatly affected their earnings," said Wei Zhonglin, a CITIC Securities Co trader. "China Pacific may continue to post a loss in the fourth quarter."

China Pacific said it lost 1.51 billion yuan in investments in the third quarter, compared with a gain of 8.18 billion yuan a year before. Investment returns totaled 14.8 billion yuan in the first three quarters, down 31 percent year on year.

The Shanghai-based insurer made an investment impairment charge of 2.16 billion yuan in the third quarter, bringing the total amount of provisions to 3.6 billion yuan in the first nine months, the statement said.

China Pacific said in a separate statement yesterday that its plan to sell shares in Hong Kong expired on September 14 and it needs to seek shareholders' approval for any future proposal.

The insurer pledged to price the shares in Hong Kong no lower than the initial public offering price of 30 yuan each in Shanghai last December. But both the stock markets have stumbled over the past year.

Shares of China Pacific plunged more than 8 percent to close at 11.35 yuan yesterday.