The National Australia Bank (NAB) released its business confidence index for Australia on Tuesday. The index rose to 6 points in March from 3 points in February.

"The lift in business conditions to these levels not only suggests that Australia is withstanding the uncertainty offshore, but that the recovery in the non-mining sectors of the economy have in fact stepped up a gear this month," NAB Group Chief Economist Alan Oster said.

The main business conditions index increased to 12 points in March from 8 points in February, while employment rose to 5 points from 1 points.