Last week in Sydney the finer end of the market again suffered the greatest falls, it said.

"In Newcastle this week there is a large offering of fine and superfine wool which will continue to see fine wool prices under pressure," it said.

The wool market continued its downward drift in prices last week, although at a reduced rate.

At the close of the week prices steadied, particularly in medium to broad wools which achieved small price gains in Geelong.

"This is particularly encouraging considering the large rostered quantities in the next fortnight," Wesfarmers said.

Currently rostered offerings for the next two weeks are both in excess of 100,000 bales.

"The more positive tone evident in the sales rooms during last week again increased speculation that the market may finallybe close to bottoming out", Bob Quirk of the Australian Council of Wool Exporters said.

"This theory will be quickly put to the test," Quirk said.

The Australian Wool Exchange's eastern market indicator last week fell five cents to 465 cents a kilogram clean. This compares with the record low of 429.3 cents/kg set in April 1993.

Sales this week in Newcastle, Melbourne and Fremantle bring 103,000 bales rostered for sale.