Daily Briefing: Singapore’s Michelin-starred hawkers; Can Singapore’s economy shift to a lower gear?

And here are Singapore’s top REIT stocks.

A queue 100-people long snakes out from a tiny food stall in Singapore's Chinatown, each customer impatiently waiting their turn for a taste of Chan Hon Meng's prized soya sauce-braised chicken. He has always had loyal customers but in the days since he was awarded a Michelin star, waves of new gourmands have descended on his stall in such numbers that he's struggling to keep up with demand. Read more here.

Faced with slowing economic growth and a quickly aging population, Singapore has aimed to pivot towards developing an innovation ecosystem and boosting productivity. But part of that drive has included changing the measuring sticks for success. Find out more here.

Daiwa has cut its outlook on Singapore REITs to neutral from outperform, noting concerns about the “stagnant” outlook for distribution per unit (DPU) growth for the remainder of the year. The broker reckons the sector’s valuations are fair with a price-to-book ratio of 1 times, while noting the current yield spread – or difference between DPU yield and the yield on the 10-year Singapore government bond – of 4.4% is 80 basis points higher than the average yield spread of 3.6%. Read more here.