In the first sale the Christmas break, the Australian wool market finished 2.4% higher, on average, at sales in Sydney, Melbourne and Fremantle this week.
The AWEX EMI rose by 23¢ (+2.3%), ending the week at 1028¢/kg. This reflected increases of 28¢ (+2.7%) in the North and 17¢ (+1.7%) in the South, with their corresponding Regional Indicators finishing the week at 1069¢ and 993¢ clean, respectively. The Western Indicator rose by 29¢ (+2.9%), finishing the week at 1025¢.
In a two day sale in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI rose by 12¢ on Wednesday and by 11¢ on Thursday. The Western Indicator rose by 17¢ on Wednesday and by 12¢ on Thursday in a two day sale in Fremantle.
44,562 bales were on offer, compared with 62,066 bales at the last sale, of which 5.8% were passed in, comprised of 5.5% in Sydney, 4.1% in Melbourne and 8.5% in Fremantle. Pass-in rates for Merino fleece and skirtings were 5.1% and 3.7%, respectively. 1,462 bales (3.2%) were withdrawn prior to sale and re-offered bales made up 9.1% of this week's offering. The US exchange rate (source RBA) was 0.98¢ lower on Monday when compared with Thursday of the last sale. It was up by 0.42¢ on Tuesday, by 0.50¢ on Wednesday and by 0.19¢ on Thursday to close at 88.40¢, up 0.13¢ (+0.1%) since the last sale. The exchange rate against the Euro rose by 0.27 Euro cents (+0.5%) to close at 60.21 Euro cents on Thursday night. When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI increased by 22¢ (+2.5%) in US terms and by 17¢ (+2.8%) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.