ZURICH, Switzerland, Oct. 9, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- STOXX Limited, the leading European index provider, today announced that the Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index has been licensed to iShares to serve as the basis for an exchange-traded fund (ETF). The new ETF will be available on Deutsche Boerse today.
"The Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index follows a unique methodology where the component weightings are based on dividend yield rather than the traditional market capitalization weighting. This offers a uniquely structured tool that allows market participants to access the performance of high-dividend paying global companies," said Ricardo Manrique, chief executive officer, STOXX Ltd. "iShares' decision to launch an ETF on this index complements its existing ETF lineup based on other Dow Jones and Dow Jones STOXX Select Dividend Indexes, which provide exposure to single countries and specific regions."
Launched on February 21, 2007, the Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index comprises the 100 highest dividend-yielding stocks worldwide. It consists of 40 stocks from the Americas, as well as of 30 stocks each from Europe and Asia/Pacific. As of October 8, 2009, the index was up 28.59% for the year.
To be eligible for inclusion in the Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index, a company must have a positive historical five-year dividend-per-share growth rate and a dividend-to-earnings-per-share ratio of less than or equal to 60% in Europe and the Americas, and 80% in Asia/Pacific in the current year, or be a previous component.
The weight of individual components in the Dow Jones STOXX Global Select Dividend 100 Index is restricted to 15% in order to prevent the index from being dominated by single high-dividend paying stocks. The index is reviewed on an annual basis in March. Price and total return indexes are calculated in euro and U.S. dollar. Daily historical data are available back to December 31, 1998.
Further information on the Dow Jones STOXX Indexes is available at www.stoxx.com.
Journalists may e-mail questions regarding this press release to PR-Indexes@dowjones.com.
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