STI dividend yield best in Asia: SGX report

Singapore

AS valuations in the local stock market remain beaten down, dividend yields here are starting to look relatively more appealing. The Straits Times Index (STI) currently boasts Asia's highest dividend yield across 10 major stock indices in the region, the Singapore Exchange (SGX) said in a My Gateway report on Wednesday. It did note, however, that Hong Kong was a close second.

The STI, a basket of 30 blue chips, notched up a dividend yield of 4.1 per cent versus a regional average of 2.8 per cent, SGX said. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was runner-up with a dividend yield of 4 per cent, and Taiwan's Taiex came in third at 3.9 per cent. Thailand's SET 50 was also above average with 3.5 per cent, as was Kuala Lumpur at 3.1 per cent.

The remaining five Asian market indices that were below the average regional dividend yield were Jakarta (2 per cent), China's CSI 300 (2 per cent), the Nikkei 225 in Japan (1.8 per cent), Seoul's Kospi 200 (1.8 per cent), and India's CNX Nifty (1.5 per cent).

SGX also said in its report that the 170 Singapore stocks that had recently declared dividends as at April 19 had an average indicative dividend yield of 3.8 per cent.

Out of the 170, 42 stocks had ex-dividend dates in April and among these, Sabana Reit had the highest annual dividend indicative yield at 8.3 per cent, SGX noted. Excelpoint Technology was next at 7.8 per cent. SGX calculated the dividend yields based on the sum of gross dividend distributions over the past year and current constituent prices, it said.

Once a company has declared dividends, its stock will trade at cum-dividend status until the stock goes ex-dividend.