SHANGHAI: China stocks fell 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. Tech shares dragged Hong Kong stocks down.

China stocks track regional markets lower on US rate concerns

• 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 0.4% by the lunch break, while the Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.5%. Hong Kong benchmark Hang Seng was down 2.0%.

• 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 data likely contracted for a second month in June, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday.

• At the midday break, the Shanghai Composite index was down 0.51% at 2,957.39 points.

• China’s blue-chip CSI300 index was down 0.41%, with its financial sector sub-index higher by 0.4%, the consumer staples sector down 0.85%, the real estate index down 0.85% and the healthcare sub-index down 1.32%.

• Chinese H-shares listed in Hong Kong fell 2.21% to 6,334.35, while the Hang Seng Index was down 2.04% at 17,721.01.

• Tech companies traded in Hong Kong were down 2.5%, with delivery giant Meituan down 2.9% and E-commerce giant Alibaba down 2%.

• The smaller Shenzhen index was down 0.85%, the start-up board ChiNext Composite index was weaker by 1.06% and Shanghai’s tech-focused STAR50 index was down 1.42%.

• Around the region, MSCI’s Asia ex-Japan stock index was weaker by 0.73% while Japan’s Nikkei index was down 1.00%.

• The yuan was quoted at 7.2686 per US dollar, 0.03% weaker than the previous close of 7.2667.