The National Council for Social Security Fund (NSSF) has made a profit of 51.2 billion yuan (7.53 billion U.S. dollars), or 9.99 percent gains, from equity investment in the first half this year, said its chairman Dai Xianglong.

According to a statement released on the NSSF website, Dai told an NSSF meeting, held on Thursday, that the total assets of the fund had reached 660 billion yuan by the end of June, and would expand by 12 percent to surpass 740 billion yuan after the transfer of state-owned stocks.

On June 22, the State Council, China's cabinet, ordered 131 state-controlled companies that have listed on domestic stock exchanges to transfer up to 10 percent of the shares issued in the initial public offerings to the NSSF.

The fund has accumulatively generated 211 billion yuan in investment yield, with annual earnings rate being 9.63 percent, said Dai.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2009)