(MarketWatch) -- Australian manufacturing contracted in July, a survey out Monday complied by Australian Industry Group -- PwC showed. The performance of manufacturing index fell 9.5 points to 43.4 in July, falling below the 50-mark point that indicates contraction. Wood products and furniture was the weakest performing sub-sector of the survey and new orders fell 14.4 points to 40.2 in July. Difficulties facing manufacturing due to the high Australian dollar and sluggish domestic demand intensified in July, according to the survey.