BEIJING -- China's insurance companies saw falling profit in the first quarter as the novel coronavirus outbreak hurt businesses and investment returns, but the market remained stable as insurers took a string of efforts to mitigate the impacts of the epidemic.

The combined profit of China's insurance companies were predicted at 100.2 billion yuan (about $14.1 billion) in the first quarter, down 14.44 percent year-on-year, Shanghai Securities News reported on Thursday, citing industry data.

Premium income of life insurance firms edged up 1.78 percent year-on-year to 1.31 trillion yuan during the period, while that of property insurance companies went up 4.17 percent to 360.1 billion yuan.

Amid the epidemic, the income of health insurance products surged 21.6 percent year-on-year to 264.1 billion yuan.

With easy access to the internet, more and more Chinese consumers like to use online channels to research and buy life and pensions products.

The country's four leading online insurance companies including ZhongAn and Anxin reported strong performance, with income surging 75.25 percent year-on-year.

Earlier data from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission showed the total assets of the insurance industry stood at 21.72 trillion yuan at the end of March, up 13.66 percent from a year ago.