COE prices end mixed

SINGAPORE: Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices for vehicles ended mixed on Wednesday in the first bidding exercise since the government announced measures to ease the COE supply.

Premiums dipped in three out of five categories, with the COEs for commercial vehicles (category C) registering the biggest fall. Here, the premium fell 4.5% or S$2,584 to S$54,522.

The COE price for big cars (category B) fell 2.58% or S$2,216 to S$83,000.

Open category COE, which can be used for any vehicle type but ends up mainly for big cars, retreated 1.15% or S$1,000 to close at S$85,889.

The premium for small cars (category A), however, rose 1.73% or S$1,002 to S$59,003.

Meanwhile, the premium for motorcycles (category D) ended S$22 higher at S$1,912.

Motor traders MediaCorp spoke to said the mixed results could be due to cautious sentiments brought on by the euro crisis and the recent huge losses in the stock market.

But they added that in the coming months, car agents will try to secure more COE bids, therefore pushing up prices.

Singapore Vehicle Traders Association's honorary secretary, Raymond Tang, said: "Most of the merchants...understand that in August, the COE (supply) will be even (lower) than what they are currently having. So most of the merchants will go in (to bid) as soon as possible rather than wait till August. That causes category A (small car COEs) to rise a bit. But in the coming month, at the second bidding, I believe that category A will definitely go up even higher."

The supply of COEs in category A is expected to fall substantially when the next six-monthly quota period starts from August.

The supply of COEs in the other categories, however, is expected to be mitigated by measures announced by the government last week.