According to the Australian Wool Industries Secretariat, it was a week in which the market was softened by the US exchange rate, which moved above 96¢ for the first time in 24 years.

AWIS says this accounted for all of the fall in the eastern market indicator, and added 8¢/kg to the AWEX EMI in US-dollar terms.

The AWEX EMI fell by 21¢/kg or -2.4pc to end the week at 869¢/kg (clean).

Region by region, this reflected changes of:

* a loss of 28¢/kg (-3.0pc) in the north, where the market closed at 897c/kg;

* a loss of 15¢/kg (-1.7pc) in the south, where the indicator finished 846¢/kg; and

* the Western Indicator fell by 22¢/kg (-2.5pc), to finish the week at 843¢/kg.

AWIS reports that at the two-day sales in Sydney and Melbourne, the AWEX EMI fell by 11¢/kg on Wednesday and by 10¢/kg on Thursday.

The Western Indicator fell by 22¢/kg on Wednesday in a one-day sale in Fremantle.

There were 40,381 bales were on offer, compared to 46,694 bales last week, of which 18.4pc were passed in.

But it was the US exchange rate which most affected the market, rising sharply this week following the release of the minutes from last month's Reserve Bank Board meeting which indicated the possibility of future interest rate rises.

It was US2.15¢ higher on Monday when compared to Thursday of last week, and was up by a further 0.35¢ on Tuesday, by 0.01¢ on Wednesday and by 0.57¢ on Thursday to close at US96.44¢, up 3.08¢ (+3.3pc) since the last sale, AWIS reports.

The exchange rate against the Euro also rose by 0.91 Euro cents (+1.5pc) to close at 61.13 Euro cents on Thursday night.

When looked at in other currencies, the AWEX EMI increased by 7¢/kg (+0.8pc) in US terms and decreased by 5¢/kg (-0.9pc) in Euro terms when compared with the previous sale.