Singapore loves dividends, Australia most generous

(Jan 9): Dividend-dependent investors were best served by the Asia-Pacific region last year, with Australia’s benchmark index offering the highest yield among developed countries and Singapore providing nearly ubiquitous payouts.

Singapore and the Philippines led the world in the proportion of companies that made or pledged dividend payments, with about 97% of companies in both Singapore’s Straits Times Index and the Philippine Stock Exchange PSEi Index having an ex-dividend date for the 12 months through Dec 31, according to an analysis of about 70 national equity benchmarks by Bloomberg.

In fact, eight of the top nine markets with the most prevalent payout ratios were from the region, with South Africa as the only outlier. Thailand, Hong Kong, India, Malaysia, Australia and China were the other leaders, with more than 90% of companies in their benchmark gauges offering dividends. 

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