SINGAPORE: Shares in Asian companies paying above-average dividends, such as China Steel Corp and Telecom Corp of New Zealand, may outperform this year as concern that economic growth is likely to slow weighs on regional benchmarks.
China Steel, Taiwan's top producer of the alloy, has a dividend equivalent to 8.3% of its share price. Telecom, New Zealand's largest telephone company, has a dividend yield of 9.2%. These yields exceed the 3% average for Morgan Stanley Capital International's Asia-Pacific excluding Japan Index.