The first round of COE exercise, after tweaks to the 23-year old system came into effect, has concluded with premiums falling across the board.

Despite the long list of cars being re-grouped into Category B, demand for Cat A COE remains strong with premiums seeing the smallest drop of just one percent.

The strong demand for Cat A cars may be due to dealers bringing in more model variants, such as turbodiesel models with lower horsepower but higher torque rating that will fit within the 130bhp band.

The anticipation for big car COEs to go up may have caused buyers and dealers to take a more conservative approach, which has resulted in significant dips in both Cat B and Cat E premiums.

Experts in the field have also anticpated premiums to remain high and linger between $60k and $80k, which can be due to the shrinking of COE quotas.

Category A premiums - for cars up to 1,600cc in engine displacement and a power output no higher than 130bhp - ended at $71,564 from $72,290 in the last session - a one percent decrease amounting to $726.

Premiums for Category B, for cars larger than 1,600cc in engine displacement or power output of more than 130bhp, ended at $75,300, sliding from $79,000 two weeks ago. This records a 4.68 percent drop amounting to $3,700.  

Meanwhile, premiums for the open category decreased to $77,003, a 2.29 percent drop from $78,810 in late January - a difference of $1,807.