NEW YORK, March 14, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, today expanded the Dow Jones Select Dividend Index series by launching three regional and country indexes that track the highest yielding stocks in the Asia/Pacific region, Asia and Japan.
The Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index has been licensed to serve as the underlying for two exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
The Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index, Dow Jones Asia Select Dividend 30 Index and Dow Jones Japan Select Dividend 30 Index measure the performance of the top 30 stocks by dividend yield in their respective markets. Represented countries in the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific Select Dividend 30 Index are Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, New Zealand and Singapore. Represented countries in the Dow Jones Asia Select Dividend 30 Index are Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea.
The Dow Jones Japan Select Dividend 30 Index is the first dividend-based index for Japan.
"More and more, companies in the Asia-Pacific region are issuing dividends for the first time, or are increasing their dividend payouts, in order to attract investors," said Lars Hamich, managing director of STOXX Ltd., the joint venture that is responsible for Dow Jones Indexes business development in Europe and Asia. "Investors are drawn to dividend-focused products and strategies as a means of increasing potential gains, and we see this trend continuing. As with the success of our other Dow Jones and Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend indexes, we expect more issuers of financial products will be interested in licensing these new indexes."
For the Dow Jones Asia/Pacific and Dow Jones Asia Select Dividend 30 Indexes, the index universe is defined as all companies in the Dow Jones Global Indexes country indexes for the represented markets. To be included in the index, companies must pass the following criteria: The company must have paid dividends in each of the previous three years; the company's dividend-per-share in the previous year must be greater than or equal to its three-year average; and to assure dividend quality, the company's five-year average dividend payout can't be more than 85% of its per-share earnings or any greater than 1.5 times the payout ratio of the corresponding Dow Jones country index.
Qualifying stocks are ranked in descending order by indicated annual dividend yield and the top 30 are added to the index. A company's weight in the index is based on its dividend yield.
For the Dow Jones Japan Select Dividend 30 Index, the index universe is defined as all dividend-paying companies in the Dow Jones Japan Index, which represents 95% of the country's market capitalization. Noncomponent stocks must have a nonnegative, historical, three-year dividend-per-share growth rate; a five-year average payout of less than or equal to 85% of per-share earnings; and an average trading volume of at least US$3 million.
Stocks passing these screens are ranked in descending order by indicated annual dividend yield, and the top 30 are selected for the index with each company's weight based on its dividend yield.
The weights of individual securities are capped at 15% for all three indexes.
All three indexes are reviewed annually in December. Daily historical index values are available from Dec. 31, 1998.
Components, weightings and performance figures for the Dow Jones Select Dividend Indexes can be found at www.djindexes.com.
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to PR-Indexes@dowjones.com or contact Dow Jones Indexes/STOXX press office:
New York: +1-212-597-5720 Frankfurt: + 49-69-97142815
Note to Editors:
About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes is part of Dow Jones & Company, which publishes the world's most vital business and financial news and information. Dow Jones Indexes is a premier global provider of investable indexes, including the Dow Jones Averages and the Dow Jones Global, Regional, Country and Sector Titans Indexes and is co-owner of the Pan-European Dow Jones STOXX Indexes. Together with Wilshire Associates, Dow Jones Indexes markets and licenses the Dow Jones Wilshire index family, which includes the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000 and its size, style, and sector indexes. Dow Jones Indexes also offers a number of specialty indexes including hedge fund, commodity and credit derivative indexes.
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