BEIJING, July 27 (Reuters) - China's industrial profits extended this year's double-digit pace of declines into a sixth month as waning demand took a toll on companies' profit margins, bolstering the case for more supportive policy to help the economy. In June alone, industrial earnings shrank by 8.3% from a year earlier, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Thursday. Profits dived for 29 of 41 major industrial sectors during the period, with the ferrous metal smelting and rolling processing industry reporting the deepest slump at 97.6%. "Looking ahead, there's a big chance of China's industrial profits logging positive growth in 2024, said Zheng Houcheng, chief macro economist at Yingda Securities Co, attributing the turnaround in part to expectations for ramped-up stimulus. Industrial profit numbers cover firms with annual revenues of at least 20 million yuan ($2.79 million) from their main operations.

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Persons: Sun Xiao, there's, Zheng Houcheng, Ethan Wang, Qiaoyi Li, Ryan Woo, Jacqueline Wong Organizations: National Bureau of Statistics, Reuters Graphics, NBS, Yingda Securities, ramped, People's Bank of China, Thomson Locations: BEIJING