(Yicai) Feb. 27 -- Almost two-thirds of Chinese insurers and insurance fund managers intend to raise the share of their portfolios invested in stocks this year, the results of a survey conducted by the Insurance Asset Management Association of China show.

About 62 percent of the 36 insurance asset management firms and 91 insurance companies polled by the IAMAC plan to moderately increase their investment in equities in 2026.

Specifically, 41 percent of insurance fund managers and 36 percent of insurers indicated that they would enlarge the share of their portfolios invested in equities by 0 percent to 5 percent, while 24 percent of the former and 26 percent of the latter said they intend to make increases in the region of 5 percent to 10 percent.

Most of them are optimistic about the Chinese mainland stock market, believing that corporate earnings recovery and liquidity are the key drivers, the IAMAC’s research report said.

By sector, they are most bullish on electronics, non-ferrous metals, power equipment, computing, communications, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology, and basic chemicals. Key investment themes include chips, defense, artificial intelligence computing power, robotics, energy metals, aerospace, high-dividend plays, novel drugs, and firms pursuing overseas expansion and globalization.

In terms of offshore market investments, the surveyed companies mostly favor Hong Kong. Half of the fund managers plan to slightly increase their allocations to Hong Kong stocks, while 40 percent of insurers expect to maintain their current allocations to them.

At the end of last year, the insurance sector had CNY38.5 trillion (USD5.6 trillion) of funds in use, up 16 percent from the beginning of the year to the highest level since 2021, according to data from the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

Property and life insurers lifted their allocations to core equity assets -- stocks and securities -- by 39 percent to CNY5.7 trillion (USD248 million), accounting for over 15 percent of their investment portfolios. Stock allocations alone jumped 56 percent to CNY1.31 trillion.

The share of insurance funds in equities has risen in the past two years, increasing quarter-on-quarter for six consecutive quarters. In 2024, insurance funds added CNY630.7 billion (USD92 billion) of stocks to portfolios.

Meanwhile, insurance funds have pared back bank deposits, shrinking them as a share of portfolios to 8.2 percent last year from 12 percent in 2020, according to NFRA data. Bond exposure has risen, climbing to 50.4 percent as of Dec. 31 from 49.5 percent a year earlier.

Editor: Futura Costaglione