Daily Briefing: Genting beats hospitality stocks in dividend yields; Reuters poll expects slower November exports

And here's a unicorn that just opened its Singapore office.

From The Motley Fool:

In Singapore, hospitality stocks are represented mainly by the hotels, restaurants and leisure industry. This is in addition to the real estate investment trusts (REITs) and stapled trusts that invest in hospitality-related assets.

According to a recent report by Singapore Exchange (SGX: S68), 20 of the biggest stocks in the hotels, restaurant and leisure industry have averaged total returns of 20.1% since the start of the year up until 13 December 2017. In comparison, for the whole of 2016, the average total return was just 5.9% with 18 stocks (two out of the 20 firms only went public in 2017).

The 20 stocks (excluding hospitality-related REITs and stapled trusts) had an average dividend yield of 2.9%.

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From Reuters:

Exports growth in Singapore is expected to have slowed sharply last month from October’s double-digit pace, a Reuters poll found on Friday, dragged by a high base effect from a year ago and a tapering in sales of electronics.

Non-oil domestic exports in November were forecast to have risen 5.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the median in the survey of 10 economists, cooling off a 20.9 percent surge the month before.

External demand remains robust, though the headline numbers are expected to show a less dramatic increase in part because of last year’s high base.

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From Tech in Asia:

Co-working dynamo WeWork has been hotly anticipated in Southeast Asia. The local ecosystem was jazzed to see the US company acquire Singapore-based Spacemob in August, preempting its arrival in the region as part of a US$500 million investment that also covers its expansion to Korea.

Five months later, Spacemob founder and CEO Turochas “T” Fuad is WeWork’s managing director for Southeast Asia, and the company’s first space is officially open for business in Singapore’s Beach Center. It also has two more confirmed Singapore spaces in the works.

This the 200th location for the global co-working company, while Singapore is its 20th country – a nice set of round numbers for Beach Center. “I’m not sure why – it’s just a random alignment,” Fuad laughs.

Read more here.