Worth noting is the fact that since DEM took on the larger weight to Russia in early 2013, it has been less volatile than EEM and VWO. Additionally, it cannot be overlooked that Russia’s rise as one of the largest emerging markets dividend payers means the country should be a significant part of any emerging markets dividend ETF.
It is “impressive that the trailing dividend yield for the MSCI Russia Index was 4.22%, compared to 2.74% for the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, almost 1.50% higher. What is even more impressive is that Russia’s current dividend yield is almost 2.5% higher than its 10-year historical median yield of 1.79%,” said WisdomTree in a recent research note.
The issuer points out that 14 of the 22 Russian companies in its emerging markets dividend index recently boosted dividends. Aggregate dividend growth for those 22 firms was 22.1%, or an increase from $19.1 billion to $23.3 billion, according to WisdomTree.
WisdomTree Emerging Markets Equity Income Fund
Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of DEM and EEM.