SHANGHAI, June 27 (Reuters) - China stocks closed down on Thursday as the country's industrial profits rose at a much slower pace in May, while investors awaited manufacturing activity data due on Sunday. Energy and tech shares dragged Hong Kong stocks down.
** China's industrial profits rose at a sharply slower pace in May, underlining the struggles faced by the world's second-largest economy as weak domestic demand crimps overall growth.
** China's blue-chip CSI300 Index dropped 0.8%, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.9% by market close. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 2.1%.
** Property shares in China and Hong Kong were not reacting positively after Beijing announced steps on Wednesday to reduce the cost of buying a home.
** Meanwhile, investors are expecting that China's manufacturing activity likely contracted for a second month in June, a Reuters poll showed.
** At the close, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.9% at 2,945.85.
** The blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.75%, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.03%, the consumer staples sector down 0.39%, the real estate index down 2.62% and the healthcare sub-index down 1.5%.
** The smaller Shenzhen index ended down 1.67% and the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 1.586%.
** Around the region, MSCI's Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.48%, while Japan's Nikkei index closed down 0.82%.
** At 07:15 GMT, the yuan was quoted at 7.2689 per U.S. dollar, 0.03% weaker than the previous close of 7.2667.
** At the close of trade, the Hang Seng index was down 373.46 points or 2.06% at 17,716.47. The Hang Seng China Enterprises index fell 2.37% to 6,324.05.
** The sub-index of the Hang Seng tracking energy shares dipped 4.1%, while the IT sector declined 2.41%, the financial sector ended 1.09% lower and the property sector dipped 3.11%.
(Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala )
