China Life surpasses AT&T in market value

The Beijing-based China Life Insurance Co Ltd<601628><2628> surpassed San Antonio-based AT&T Inc in market value on Monday, making itself the fifth Chinese companies in world’s Top 10, compared to three for the U.S companies.

On Monday, China Life, the nation's largest insurer, ahead of its third-quarter earnings announcement, gained 1.1% and 6.7% respectively in Hong Kong and Shanghai, valuing the company at US$ 259.1 billion. AT&T, the biggest U.S phone company, was valued at U.S$252.9 billion, about U.S$6 billion behind.

Five Chinese companies as Petro China Co Ltd<857>, China Mobile Co. Ltd<941>, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Co.Ltd<601398><1398>, Sinopec Corp<600028><386> and China Life are now listed in the world’s biggest company by market value. Their market value are US$446.7 billion, US$398.25 billion, US$353.31 billion, US$258.5 billion and US$256.83 billion, respectively. The three U.S listed companies are Mobil, GE and Microsoft.

All of these companies gained over 120% this year, led by China Life to 221%. But only Sinopec and PetroChina are in the top 50 by sales.

The nation's households are pouring in the stock market this year with their US$2.3 trillion savings where the return exceeds bank deposits.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) has raised the interest rates five times this year to cool the economy, and the central bank also required lenders to set aside more reserves eight times.