SINGAPORE: Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums closed mostly higher in the latest bidding exercise on Wednesday (Aug 19).

For Category A cars, or those 1,600cc and below with horsepower not exceeding 130bhp, prices rose for the first time in three exercises.

They closed at S$128,501, up 3.7 per cent from S$123,890 in the last exercise.

Premiums for larger and more powerful cars in Category B rose by 0.8 per cent to S$131,001 from S$129,910.

COEs for commercial vehicles, which include goods vehicles and buses, fell to S$90,002 from S$91,545 in the previous bidding exercise, a fall of 1.7 per cent.

Motorcycle premiums closed 7.6 per cent higher at S$11,301, up from S$10,503.

Open category COEs, which can be used for any vehicle type but end up being used mainly for large cars, rose for the fifth straight exercise by 3 per cent - from S$131,000 to S$135,000.

A total of 4,515 bids were received, with a quota of 3,205 COEs available.

The quota for COEs for the August to October period has been raised slightly to 19,085, a 0.2 per cent increase from the previous quarter's 19,052 COEs.