IDEX Price Report for 1 October: Downward Pressure Persists

(IDEX Online) - September continued to show downward pressure on IDEX asking prices, with decreases substantially outnumbering increases in both rounds and fancies.

Rounds showed the clearer weakness, with 247 price decreases against 96 increases.

Fancies recorded 249 decreases and 142 increases.

The pattern was not uniform across all sizes. Rounds showed particularly broad weakness from 0.70-cts through 1.99-cts, where most or all of the recorded changes were downward. Larger rounds were more mixed, although decreases again dominated in the 4.00-cts to 5.99-cts categories.

Fancies also showed significant weakness in smaller and mid-sized goods, while the 2.00-cts to 3.99-cts categories were more balanced and contained a greater proportion of increases.

The smallest rounds showed little activity. The 0.18-cts to 0.22-cts category recorded only three changes, all increases, while activity in 0.23-cts to 0.69-cts remained limited. From 0.70-cts, however, the direction became much clearer, with every recorded change in both 0.70-cts to 0.79-cts and 0.80-cts to 0.89-cts being downward.

Highlighted changes

Rounds

1.00-1.24 ct. Decreases dominated; D / VS1 -6.1%, D / VS2 -5.0%, N / SI1 -5.0%; I / I2 +5.6%, J / SI3 +3.2%

1.50-1.99 ct. Decreases dominated; N / SI3 -3.7%, M / SI3 -3.3%, E / SI1 -2.7%; G / VVS1 +1.0%, F / VVS1 +0.9%

4.00-4.99 ct. Decreases dominated; M / I2 -7.1%, M / SI1 -4.5%, M / IF -3.7%; N / I2 +8.7%, L / SI3 +5.7%

Fancy Cuts

1.50-1.99 ct. Decreases slightly outnumbered increases; D / I1 -4.8%, I / SI2 -3.8%, J / VS2 -3.7%; I / VVS2 +2.7%, H / VVS1 +2.2%

2.00-2.99 ct. Increases dominated; F / VVS1 -4.0%, F / IF -3.8%, N / SI2 -3.6%; J / VS1 +4.9%, J / VVS2 +4.8%, J / VVS1 +4.7%

3.00-3.99 ct. Increases slightly outnumbered decreases; F / SI1 -4.6%, I / VS2 -3.9%, L / SI1 -3.7%; M / VVS1 +3.8%, N / SI3 +3.7%, K / SI1 +3.6%

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