SINGAPORE Manufacturing output contracted in April for the third consecutive month bringing the closely-watched Singapore purchasing managers index (PMI) to a new low, the PMI survey said on Friday.

The index dropped 1.2 points last month to 46.2 percent, the lowest level since the PMI was started in 1999, DPA reported.

An index reading below 50 percent indicates the key manufacturing sector, the driver of growth accounting for 25 percent of the city-state economy, is shrinking.