OREANDA-NEWS. Dividends are an important aspect of investing that enable companies and trusts to distribute income to their share and unit holders. All 30 stocks of the Straits Times Index (STI) have provided such distributions over the past year. The STI currently maintains a 3.4% dividend yield compared to the region’s 2.3% currently. This is based on the sum of gross dividend distributions that have gone ex-dividend over the past year and current constituent prices, which are apportioned to the constituent weights in the Index.

As illustrated in the table below, there are five benchmarks among 12 in Asia, with a dividend yield above 3.0%. The remaining seven benchmarks maintain yields below 3.0%. The Taiwan Stock Exchange Weighted Index (TAIEX, also referred to as TWSE) is a close second to the STI in dividend yield. Another similarity between the Singapore and Taiwan stock markets is that they are both highly international and are amongst the highest market capitalisation to Gross Domestic Product ratios in the world.

 

Note that the FTSE China A50 Index, an important benchmark for offshore China investors, maintains a dividend yield of 2.2% versus the CSI 300, which has a 1.4% yield. Likewise, the MSCI Indonesia Index maintains a dividend yield of 2.5%, compared with the Jakarta Composite Index’s (JCI) dividend yield of 2.1%. The MSCI Singapore Index, which includes most of the STI Reserve List, has an even higher dividend yield than the STI, at 3.7%.

The five STI stocks with the highest dividend yields are Hutchison Port Holdings Trust, Ascendas Real Estate Investment Trust, Keppel Corporation, Singapore Press Holdings, and StarHub. The indicative dividend yields range from 8.5% for Hutchison Port Holdings Trust to 0.8% for City Developments.

The table below is sorted based on dividend yield. Note that clicking on a stocks name will take you to its relevant page on StockFacts.

There are two ETFs listed on SGX which track the performance of the STI – the Nikko AM Singapore STI ETF and the SPDR® STI ETF.