The downturn in the Eurozone manufacturing sector extended into a fifth successive month in December as initially estimated, final data from Markit Economics showed Monday.

The Purchasing Managers' Index came in at 46.9 in December, unchanged from the flash estimate. But the indicator rose marginally from November's 28-month low of 46.4 to signal a slight easing in the overall rate of contraction.

"Despite the rate of decline easing slightly in December, production appears to have been collapsing across the single currency area at a quarterly rate of approximately 1.5% in the final quarter of 2011," said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

Production slowed for the fifth month in a row in December. A combination of lower demand in domestic and foreign markets led to an overall reduction in new business received by European manufacturers.

Manufacturers remained cost-cautious and worried about over-capacity as a result of the ongoing downturn in new orders, causing employment to fall slightly for the second straight month.

Input prices fell for the third straight month. Meanwhile, manufacturers' output prices rose only very modestly on average across the Eurozone.