The Ivey Business School Purchasing Managers Index (PMI), measuring Canada’s economic activity, rose to 54.3 in March from an unrevised 50.6 in Februar.

Economists had expected the gauge to hit 51.1.

A figure above 50 shows an increase while below 50 shows a decrease.

Within sub-indexes, the employment measure increased to 54.5 in March from 53.2 in the prior month. At the same time, the inventories indicator dropped to 47.8 in March from 52.2 in February, while the supplier deliveries gauge declined to 46.2 from 51.9 and the prices index weakened to 58.7 from 59.8.