BEIJING, July 16 (Xinhua) -- The China Rare Earth Industry Prosperity Index, a gauge of the industry's overall performance, rose to 103.70 points in the second quarter this year, up 4.26 percent from last quarter, an industrial report said on Thursday.

A reading above 100 indicates an expansion of the sector while below 100 represents a contraction.

The sub-index of market performance hit 106.98 points, the highest among all the six sub-indices in the second quarter, according to the report released by the China Economic Information Service and the Baotou Rare Earth Products Exchange on Thursday in Beijing.

As China has taken effective COVID-19 epidemic prevention and control measures, rare earth enterprises' production and operations recovered well in the second quarter, and the rare earth market confidence is on the up in the third quarter, according to the report.

The index is a key part of China Rare Earth Serial Indices which also includes the China Rare Earth Price Index and the China Rare Earth Development Index.