A closely-watched survey of business activity across the 18-country eurozone is indicating that economic growth across the region is spreading and running at a near three-year high.

Financial information company Markit says Monday its purchasing managers' index for March fell modestly to 53.2 points from February's 53.3. Even so, Markit says the March figure rounds off the eurozone's best three-month period since the second quarter of 2011 and suggests a quarterly growth rate of 0.5 percent.

Any reading above 50 indicates expansion.

A more detailed look at the survey shows Germany, Europe's largest economy, continues to spearhead the growth and that the recovery is spreading to France. It also says that the "periphery" countries, many of which have been weighed down by government-imposed austerity programs, are staging a "robust-looking recovery."