BEIJING (Reuters) -China's industrial firms posted higher profits in the opening months of the year, official data showed on Wednesday, suggesting an economic recovery was gaining momentum despite persistent sluggishness in the property sector.

Profits at China's industrial firms jumped 10.2% in the first two months from the same period last year, following a 2.3% profit decline for the whole of 2023, National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data showed.

A slew of upbeat economic indicators in January-February was tempered by the persistent fragility in the property market, pointing to a divergence in the post-pandemic economic recovery.

Earlier in March, Chinese electric vehicle battery giant CATL posted its first drop in quarterly earnings since the second quarter of 2022, amid intensified competition and slowing demand in the world's largest auto market.

In the face of lingering economic weakness, a deputy central bank chief last week assured markets of policy options at its disposal, including cuts in banks' reserve requirement ratios (RRR). The central bank announced the biggest RRR reduction in two years in January.

State-owned firms recorded a 0.5% rise in earnings in January-February, foreign firms saw a 31.2% gain while private-sector companies booked a 12.7% increase, the data showed.

The statistics bureau publishes combined data for the first two months to sort out distortions due to the varied timing of the Lunar New Year.

Industrial profit numbers cover firms with annual revenues of at least 20 million yuan ($2.78 million) from their main operations.

($1 = 7.1986 yuan)