Noble Group, Asia’s biggest commodity supplier, said second-quarter profit rose 39 percent because of higher sales from energy and metals.

Net income was US$194.8 million ($242.5 million) in the three months ended June 30, from US$139.8 million a year earlier, the Hong Kong-based company said today in a statement. Sales rose 23% to US$24.2 billion.

Noble, which counts China’s sovereign wealth fund among its biggest shareholders, said today sales from its energy and metals units were a record in the quarter. Sales advanced 42% at its energy unit, its largest, and 28 percent in its metals business.

“These are generally pleasing numbers given that the market environment has been unusually uncertain for the entire period,” Chief Executive Officer Yusuf Alireza said in a separate statement.

The stock fell 2.2% to $1.115 at the close in Singapore today, before the earnings announcement. Noble is down 1.3% this year, compared with the 16% advance in the benchmark Straits Times Index.

Noble recorded a US$100 million gain in the quarter from the sale of its stake in Gloucester Coal to Yanzhou Coal Mining Co., the company said today. Yanzhou Coal merged its Australian unit with Gloucester and Noble retains 13.2% in the combined entity.