Even the new breed of emerging markets dividend ETFs skimp on or outright exclude South Korea. The EGShares Emerging Markets Dividend Growth ETF (NYSEArca: EMDG) and the EGShares EM Dividend High Income ETF (NYSEArca: EMHD) both track FTSE indices and that index provider classifies South Korea as a developed market. The index yields on EMDG and EMHD are 3.79% and 7.44%, respectively, according to issuer data.
The WisdomTree Emerging Markets Dividend Growth Fund (NasdaqGS: DGRE) allocates just 1% to South Korea, making the country that fund’s 13th-largest geographic weight. Constituent companies are weighted in the Index based on annual cash dividends paid, according to WisdomTree. The index had a dividend yield of 3.94% as of Jan. 24.
Country Dividend Yields
Chart Courtesy: TopForeignStocks.com
Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of DEM.