Singapore shares lack mojo as India-China border tensions escalate

SINGAPORE shares languished as the border tension between India and China escalated amid persistent Sino-US rivalry.

On Wednesday, India banned another 118 mobile applications including Tencent Holdings' popular video game PUBG and Xiaomi's ShareSave, as it stepped up the pressure on Chinese technology companies.

The ban follows an announcement by a senior Indian official that troops were deployed on four strategic hilltops, after what New Delhi described as an attempted Chinese incursion along a disputed Himalayan border.

Meanwhile, the US said it would now require senior Chinese diplomats to get State Department approval before visiting US university campuses or holding cultural events with more than 50 people outside mission grounds.

In Singapore, the Straits Times Index opened at 2,546.01 and hit an intraday high of 2,546.870. It eventually closed at 2,531.79, down 8.15 points, or 0.32 per cent. A total of 1.90 billion securities, worth S$1.10 billion, changed hands. There were 163 gainers to 288 losers.

Parkway Life (PLife) Reit bucked the broad declines across the S-Reits. It hit S$3.94, and then settled at S$3.89. The Reit was underpinned by news that it will join the FTSE EPRA Nareit Global Developed Index come Monday, Sept 21.

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The index is reviewed on a quarterly basis in March, June, September and December. In the year to date, PLife Reit was among the 70 most actively traded Singapore stocks, attracting S$2.5 million in net institutional inflows. It is also among the top five performing S-Reits, with a 21 per cent total return.