(Yicai Global) April 8 -- The global manufacturing purchasing managers index rose 0.2 percentage points to 51.7 in March. 

The global manufacturing PMI was calculated using the gross domestic product proportions-weighted manufacturing PMIs of major economies, Chen Zhongtao, chief economist with Beijing-based China Federation of Logistics & Purchasing, explained. 

The manufacturing index of the Tempe, Arizona-based Institute for Supply Management -- which describes itself on its website as "the first and largest not-for-profit professional supply management organization" -- came in above expectation at 55.3 in March, while China's manufacturing PMI returned to expansion territory at 50.5 after three months of sub-50 readings in the contraction red zone. 

By region, the manufacturing PMI of Asia rose 0.7 percentage points from last month to 50.5, ending a six-month losing streak. 

The Americas' manufacturing PMI rose 0.6 percentage points per month to 54.5, while that of Europe fell for four months in a row, to 49.9, below the redline. 

Brexit stands at a crossroads, and the attendant uncertainty weighing on the EU is impacting the global economy, manufacturing growth above all, Zhang Jianping, deputy head of the academic committee of the Ministry of Commerce's research institute, explained to China Central Television. 

Fall of the Fatherland 

Germany's PMI index was also in downturn. 

Optimistic statements about recent world economic trends are difficult, said Yuan Gangming, a research fellow at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University's Center for China in the World Economy. 

The World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Foundation and the Asian Development Bank have successively lowered their growth outlooks for the global and regional economies, and the former is still steadily declining. 

However, monetary policy will cease tightening since the world's major economies have slowed the pace of rate hikes, some argue, and this will help ease downward pressure on them. 

Thus, global economic growth is less likely to fall quickly so far and will generally remain on a slower but stable track, they contend.

Editor: Ben Armour