CITIC Securities Co. said yesterday profit doubled in the first quarter of this year.

Net income rose to 2.52 billion yuan (US$36 million), or 0.76 yuan per share, from 1.25 billion yuan, or 0.42 yuan per share, a year earlier, the Beijing-based company said in a statement. Sales rose to 5.79 billion yuan from 3.34 billion yuan a year earlier, it said.

Shanghai-listed CITIC Securities collected more revenue after raising its ownership in China Asset Management Co. and CITIC Fund Management in September. The company is trying to reduce its dependence on commissions from stock trading after China’s benchmark index dropped as much as 44 percent from an October record.

“We are conservative about this sector at the moment,’’ said Shi Yonghui, a Shenzhen-based fund manager with Da Cheng Fund Management Co., who sold all his CITIC Securities shares in the first quarter. “The brokerage industry is volatile and can’t be measured by standard price-to-earnings valuation ratios.’’

Average combined daily stock trading volume on the nation’s two exchanges fell to 9.8 billion shares in the first quarter from 11.2 billion in 2007.

CITIC Securities earned 603.5 million yuan from underwriting the sale of stocks and bonds and advising on mergers, compared with 225.7 million yuan a year earlier. (SD-Agencies)