By Nivedita Balu
TORONTO (Reuters) – Shares of Manulife Financial rose on Thursday after a rebound in insurance sales and profitable investment returns in their wealth unit powered an earnings beat, but Canada’s top insurer flagged risks from its office real estate exposures.
Manulife late Wednesday said core earnings for the second quarter were driven by gains from its investments, benefiting from the higher rate environment and very low credit loss.
Earlier this week, rival Sun Life Financial Inc also reported better-than-expected earnings.
Manulife benefited from strong insurance sales in Asia, their biggest growth market, as mainland Chinese customers returned to Hong Kong to buy policies after the borders reopened for the first time since the pandemic.
Manulife shares were up 2.4% on Thursday and Sun Life fell 0.6%, while the benchmark Toronto share index gained 0.5%.
But both Manulife and Sun Life warned of more pressure in their commercial