China’s monthly index of manufacturing activity rebounded in March after slowing for the two previous months, a report said today.

The Purchasing Managers’ Index for the manufacturing sector climbed to 50.9 per cent, up from 50.1 per cent in February, the China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing said.

The 50-per-cent mark denotes the divide between expansion and contraction.

The index has remained above 50 per cent since October, which the government said was a sign that it had arrested a slowdown in growth in the world’s second-largest economy.

The federation said rebounding trade growth and a slowdown in the rise of manufacturers’ costs had buoyed the manufacturing industry.

The rise in the index gave further evidence that the economy would stabilize this year, state media quoted government economist Zhang Liqun as saying.

China’s annual economic growth fell to 7.8 per cent last year, the slowest since 1999, down from 9.3 per cent in 2011 as China dealt with slowing demand for its exports amid the eurozone debt crisis and uncertainty over the US economic recovery as well as growing production costs, including rising wages.

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