SINGAPORE shares ended lower on Wednesday, following a Tuesday sell-off on Wall Street as investors continued to be jittery over US threats to hike tariffs on Chinese goods on Friday.

China's crude oil imports in April unexpectedly surged to a record despite refinery maintenance outages and tepid domestic fuel demand, customs data showed, as state-run refiners built up stocks of Iranian crude oil anticipating a sanctions clampdown.

JP Morgan could become the first foreign company to own a majority stake in its Chinese mutual fund business, after its joint venture partner put a crucial 2 per cent of the business up for sale that analysts expect the Wall Street bank to lap up.

Facebook has chosen London as its base for a payment system on WhatsApp, its mobile messaging service confirmed Wednesday, highlighting the capital's attractiveness as a fintech hub despite Brexit strains.

BEST World on Wednesday night posted a 79 per cent jump in net profit for the first quarter to S$10.3 million from S$5.8 million a year ago. The company attributed the performance to strong sales growth across most of the group's markets.

Source: SGX Masnet, The Business Times, Bloomberg, Channel NewsAsia, Reuters, PSR