THE Australian Wool Exchange Eastern Market Indicator (AWEX EMI) dipped two cents this week to finish at 1249 cents a kilogram.
There was a two-cent rise when measured in US dollar terms, but AWEX senior market analyst Lionel Plunkett said digging deeper into results gave a different perspective of the market, where 43,434 bales were offered this week.
"Fleece wool, both Merino and Crossbred were a drag on the overall result, while Merino Skirtings and Merino Carding types found good support and managed to limit the headline number to only a modest fall," Mr Plunkett said.
"The opening NZ catalogue gave an indication of a cheaper market when it sold in isolation on Tuesday – the better types maintained buyer support but the few lesser quality types were neglected.
"The weak lead from NZ flowed through into the Australian catalogues over the next two days, although there were variations across the three auction centres.
"Melbourne was the most pessimistic, losing 5 to 10 cents each day.
"Sydney & Fremantle both commenced the week ahead before succumbing to the negative sentiment and easing on the final day - the week-on-week results for Fremantle were affected by its comparison to the previous Wednesday.
"The recent tendency for a focus on the better types persisted at this series."
Mr Plunkett said most demand was on high strength, low mid-break types - which are at seasonal lows - at the expense of part-tender types.
He said Merino Skirtings maintained consistent support in spite of the result in corresponding fleece types.
"The second largest Crossbred offering for the season weighed heavily on the sector and they fell by 10 cents," he said.
"The Merino Carding Indicator bucked the trend observed elsewhere and lifted on the back of solid support.
"Locks and Crutchings carried the Indicators around 20 cents higher."
Just over 44,000 bales are set to be offered next week.