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The manufacturing sector in Australia slipped into contraction in December, the latest survey from the Australia Industry Group revealed on Monday with a Performance of Manufacturing Index score of 49.5.
That's down from 51.3 in November, and it falls beneath the boom-or-bust line of 50 that separates expansion from contraction.
It's also the first time in 26 months that the index has failed to expand.
Among the individual components, production, employment, new orders, supplier deliveries, exports and selling prices all contracted - while finished stocks, sales, input prices and average wages all continued to expand.
