Wall St slips in afternoon trading; off day's lows

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were down slightly in late afternoon trading on Monday as Hong Kong protests added to worries about growth in China.

Energy shares were leading the day's decline even as oil prices rebounded from recent losses, with the S&P energy index down 0.7 percent.

All but one of the 10 S&P 500 sectors - utilities - were lower.

Housing shares were also lower after contracts to purchase previously-owned U.S. homes fell more than expected in August. An index of housing shares was down 0.6 percent.

"It's rallying a little bit from the lows of the day," said Giri Cherukuri, head trader at OakBrook Investments LLC in Lisle, Illinois.

"In the back of people's minds are the geopolitical risks that are weighing down the market ... while the U.S. economy and earnings are offsetting," some of that concern, he said.

The Dow Jones industrial average was falling 61.01 points, or 0.36 percent, to 17,052.14, the S&P 500 was losing 7.19 points, or 0.36 percent, to 1,975.66 and the Nasdaq Composite was dropping 12.07 points, or 0.27 percent, to 4,500.13.

The largest percentage gainer on the New York Stock Exchange was Athlon Energy, rising 24.76 percent, while the largest percentage decliner was Civeo, down 46.80 percent.

Declining issues were outnumbering advancing ones on the NYSE by 1,973 to 1,092, for a 1.81-to-1 ratio on the downside; on the Nasdaq, 1,673 issues were falling and 1,004 advancing for a 1.67-to-1 ratio favoring decliners.

The benchmark S&P 500 index was posting 13 new 52-week highs and 12 new lows; the Nasdaq Composite was recording 35 new highs and 122 new lows.

(Editing by Nick Zieminski)