Are high dividend yields in the Singapore market blinding investors to chronically low total returns?

INVESTORS in the Singapore market celebrated increased dividend payouts this past week.

Specifically, the three local banks - DBS, OCBC and UOB, which have a combined weight of nearly 44 per cent in the Straits Times Index (STI) - announced significant hikes in their interim dividends for 2021 with their Q2 2021 financial reports.

This came after the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said on July 28 that it had lifted restrictions imposed on bank dividends last year in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic.