The Australian Wool Market finished the week 0.4 percent lower, on average, at sales in Sydney and Melbourne this week. Fremantle was in recess.
The AWEX EMI decreased by 2¢ (-0.3 percent) ending the week at 737¢/kg clean. This reflected a decrease of 11¢ ( 1.4 percent) in the North and an increase of 4¢ (+0.6 percent) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 760¢ and 717¢ clean respectively. The Western Indicator was unchanged at 710¢.
49,482 bales were on offer (compared with 67,430 last week), of which 14.2 percent were passed in, comprised of 10.3 percent in Sydney, and 16.0 percent in Melbourne. Pass in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 16.9 percent and 11.9 percent respectively.
2,337 bales (4.5 percent) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered wools made up 9.0 percent of this week's offering.
The US exchange rate was 0.03¢ lower on Tuesday when compared with Thursday last week (Monday being a bank holiday). It decreased by 0.40¢ on Wednesday and increased by 0.25¢ on Thursday to close at 74.62¢, down 0.40¢ (-0.5 percent) since the last sale.
The exchange rate against the Euro fell by 0.22 Euro cents (-0.4 percent) to close at 58.74 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI dropped by 4¢ in US terms and by 3¢ in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.
In a two day sale in Sydney and a three day sale in Melbourne, the AWEX EMI, decreased by 1¢ on Tuesday, by 4¢ on Wednesday and increased by 3¢ on Thursday. The changes in the Market Indicators were hard to read on Wednesday, with the North quoted as 12¢ down, the South 2¢ up (with 15.4 percent more bales sold) and the EMI down by 4¢. Members of the trade quoted the North and the South much more closely together.
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