WELLINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) - New Zealand's manufacturing sector weakened in December and has been in contraction for 10 straight months, a survey showed on Friday.

The Bank of New Zealand-Business NZ's seasonally adjusted Performance of Manufacturing Index (PMI) fell to 43.1 in December from a revised 46.5 in November. New orders fell to 44.0 from 47.4 in the prior month.

A reading above 50 indicates manufacturing activity is expanding, while anything below that threshold points to contraction.

“The December PMI reaffirms our view that economic conditions remain very difficult. While we expect the economy, and the manufacturing sector, to gain some momentum by end 2024, the next few months will remain challenging,” said BNZ Head of Research Stephen Toplis. (Reporting by Lucy Craymer Editing by Chris Reese)