Australia Manufacturing PMI Improves To 57.0 In March - Markit

(RTTNews) - The manufacturing sector in Australia continued to expand in March, and at a slightly faster pace, the latest survey from Markit Economics showed on Wednesday with a manufacturing PMI score of 57.0.

That's up from 56.9 in February and it moves further above the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.

The uptick was supported by quicker increases in factory orders and employment, while production growth eased marginally from February. Goods producers registered the steepest increase in input costs in the survey history.

Australia's services PMI came in at 56.2, up sharply from 53.4 in February, while the composite index had a score of 56.2 - up from 53.7 in the previous month.