"Despite the steady profit rise in October, the structure of the profit increase is not ideal," He Ping said, citing growth in raw material sectors in comparison with slower growth in high-tech manufacturing.

The view was echoed by Jiang Chao, a senior analyst at Haitong Securities, who said that the profit pickup is mainly in upstream industries, including coal mining.

Some sectors have rising inventories. Falling demand in property and thermal coal sectors will restrain overall inventory rises and may weigh on future economic improvement, Jiang added.

In the first 10 months, total industrial profits expanded 8.6 percent year on year to 5.26 trillion yuan, faster than the 8.4 percent rise for the first three quarters, the NBS said.

Among the 41 industries surveyed, 29 posted year-on-year profit growth during the first 10 months, with ferrous metal processing, crude oil processing, as well as coal mining and washing sectors recording the strongest growth.

Profits of state-owned enterprises increased 4.8 percent in the first 10 months, slower than 6.6 percent for private enterprises.