Insurer Ace Ltd's results beat Street

Property-casualty insurer Ace Ltd posted a 2nd-Q operating profit that beat Wall Street expectations, sending shares over 2% higher. Ace said net income fell 27%, hurt by a decline in policy sales & realized investment losses. Operating earnings were better than analysts expected & book value, a valuation measure tracked closely by investors, rose strongly. Ace's quarter was "pretty much solid as expected," David Havens, Hexagon Securities analyst said. Zurich-based Ace largely skirted the toxic investments that weakened some competitors, including AIG, XL Capital Ltd & Swiss Re. Operating earnings -- earnings before realized gains or losses -- were $2.09 a share, compared with $2.16 in the 2nd-Q 2008, & were 15