China Construction Bank, one of the country's top four lenders, announced Friday its net profit in the third quarter rose 18.56 percent year on year to 30.3 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion).

The non-performing loan rate of the bank stood at 1.57 percent by September, down 0.64 percentage point from the end of last year, the bank said in a statement to the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

Equities of the Beijing-based lender added 2.88 percent to 6.07 yuan per share on Friday.

(Xinhua News Agency October 24, 2009)