LONDON, Nov. 29, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Dow Jones Indexes, a leading global index provider, announced that iShares has licensed the new Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index to serve as the basis for the iShares Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend ETF, listed on the London Stock Exchange.
The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index, which was also launched today, is designed to measure the stock performance of 100 leading dividend-paying emerging markets companies, selected by dividend yield.
Dow Jones Indexes pioneered the dividend-index space with the launch of the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index in 2003, and remains a leader in this area. Earlier in 2011, Dow Jones Indexes unveiled Europe and Eurozone Dividend Indexes, as well as distributing versions of dividend indexes for Europe, Eurozone, Germany and France.
"The launch of the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index aims to address two notable themes generating increasing interest in the market recently: emerging markets and dividend-based investing," said Michael A. Petronella, President, Dow Jones Indexes. "We see this new index as an important tool for evaluating the equity performance of top dividend-paying stocks in emerging markets."
With today's announcement, Dow Jones Indexes has now licensed a total of 29 indexes to underlie ETFs so far in 2011 versus 19 in the comparable year-ago period.
Stocks in the starting index universe must pass a series of the eligibility screens to be included in the selection pool: they must have a non-negative trailing 12-month earnings-per-share figure, a float-adjusted market capitalisation of at least USD 250 million and a minimum three-month daily average trading volume of USD 2 million. The stocks also must have paid dividends during each of the past three years.
Stocks in the selection pool are then ranked in descending order of indicated annual yield, defined as a stock's indicated annual dividend (not including any special dividends) divided by its price. The top 100 stocks are selected as index components. No more than 30 stocks can be selected from any single country.
Component weightings are assigned based on indicated annual yield. No single country can represent more than 25% of the index. The index composition is reviewed quarterly.
Calculation of the Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index began on September 29, 2011. Real index history is available daily from this date forward. Back-tested historical data have been calculated daily back to December 30, 2005, the date at which the index base value is set at 1000. The index is calculated in price return and total return. The total return version of the index is calculated with net dividends reinvested.
About Dow Jones Indexes
Dow Jones Indexes (www.djindexes.com) is a leading full-service index provider that develops, maintains and licenses indexes for use as benchmarks and as the basis of investment products. Best-known for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Dow Jones Indexes offers more than 130,000 equity indexes as well as fixed-income and alternative indexes, including measures of hedge funds, commodities and real estate. Dow Jones Indexes employs clear, unbiased and systematic methodologies that are fully integrated within index families. Dow Jones Indexes is part of a joint venture company owned 90 percent by CME Group Inc. (www.cmegroup.com) and 10 percent by Dow Jones & Company, Inc. (www.dowjones.com), a News Corporation company (Nasdaq:NWS) (Nasdaq:NWSA) (ASX:NWS) (ASX:NWSLV) ( www.newscorp.com).
The Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index was first published on November 29, 2011. All estimated daily historical closing prices prior to that date are based on back-testing (i.e., calculations of how the index might have performed in the past if it had existed). Back-tested performance information is purely hypothetical and is solely for informational purposes. Back-tested performance does not represent actual performance, and past performance is not indicative of future results.
"Dow Jones®", "Dow Jones Indexes", "Dow Jones Emerging Markets Select Dividend Index" and all other index names listed above are service marks of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC ("Dow Jones"), and have been licensed for use by CME Group Index Services LLC ("CME Indexes"). Investment products based on these indexes are not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Dow Jones, CME Indexes or their respective affiliates and none of Dow Jones, CME Indexes and their respective affiliates make any representation regarding the advisability of investing in such products. Inclusion of a company in any of these indexes does not in any way reflect an opinion of Dow Jones, CME Indexes or any of their respective affiliates on the investment merits of such company. None of Dow Jones, CME Indexes or any of their respective affiliates is providing investment advice in connection with these indexes.
The Dow Jones Indexes logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=1289