Singapore stocks end down following yuan's fall

Singapore shares closed 1.36 percent lower on Tuesday following fall of the Chinese currency RMB earlier in the day.

RMB's fall in value came after Chinese central bank's decision to improve its "central parity system" to better reflect market development in the exchange rate between the Chinese yuan against the U.S. dollar.

Following the decision, the central parity rate of the RMB, or the yuan, weakened sharply Tuesday to 6.2298 against the U.S. dollar, compared to 6.1162 on Monday, nearly 2 percent lower.

Singapore's benchmark Straits Times Index fell 43.60 points to 3,153.06 points. Trading volume was 1.98 billion shares worth 1.89 billion Singapore dollars. Decliners outnumbered advancers 296 to 161, while 479 stocks did not move.

Noble Group fell 1.7 percent to 57 Singapore cents. PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found no wrongdoing in a review of Noble's accounting practices. PwC said the company's fair value assessment of contracts was in line with relevant accounting standards and practices.

Meanwhile, Noble said discussion with parties on approaches for

financing, asset sale and equity stake continues. Investor confidence on Noble had been shaken this year after Iceberg Research accused the company in mid-February of inflating its assets by billions of U.S. dollars.

Global logistics Properties fell 0.8 percent to 2.35 Singapore dollars. It announced the sale of five wholly owned logistics properties to GLP J-REIT for 306 million U.S. dollars. The sale price is in line with the properties latest valuations as of end June.

The properties comprise 203,000 square meters and are mainly located in Greater Tokyo, with one property located in Greater Fukuoka. This transaction is in line with the group's capital recycling strategy in Japan.

Among the top gainers, Jardine Matheson rose 1.4 percent to 53. 51 U.S. dollars, whereas UOB became one of the top losers by falling 3.2 percent to 20.86 Singapore dollars. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.4 Singapore dollars)