Hong Kong’s Battered Dividend Investors Go For Growth Stocks
- Nearly one-third of companies have cut dividends this year
- Fund managers have cut exposure to traditional dividend stocks
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Dividend investors are having to rethink their strategies in Hong Kong’s stock market, as companies mired in a pandemic-driven recession are slashing payouts more than before.
Hong Kong’s high dividend stocks have traditionally been favored by retail investors as a source of income. But that strategy is now in question. Almost one-third of Hang Seng Composite Index members are either scrapping or reducing dividends this year, according to data through Aug. 27 compiled by Bloomberg. That’s the most since 2009, when 61% of index companies did so in the aftermath of the global financial crisis.