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BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Chinese stocks dropped slightly on Thursday as market sentiment remained cautious after fresh data showed growth of China's industrial profits slowed last month.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index went down 0.13 percent to end the day at 3,112.35 points, and the smaller Shenzhen Component index closed 0.26 percent lower at 10,788.97 points.
The ChiNext Index, which tracks China's NASDAQ-style board of growth enterprises, shed 0.09 percent to close at 2,182.48 points.
Data on Thursday showed China's industrial profits rose 7.7 percent year on year to 577.13 billion yuan (85.25 billion U.S. dollars) in September.
The growth rate was slower than the 19.5-percent increase registered in August, which the National Bureau of Statistics attributed to retreating profit growth of the electronics, steel and power sectors as well as the weakening effect of a low base.
In addition, China's yuan on Thursday returned to losing territory despite a mild gain on the previous trading day, with the central parity rate weakening 31 basis points to 6.7736 against the U.S. dollar.
The coal industry, which has led gains in previous trading days, slumped on Thursday. China Shenhua Energy Company Limited went down 1.24 percent to end the day at 16.77 yuan per share.
