Dividend growth

Dealers and hedge funds were hammered by sharp falls in dividends during late 2008 and early 2009. Since then, liquidity has recovered as a wider range of market participants take advantage of the dislocation. Mark Pengelly reports

Dividends were a major factor behind hundreds of millions of dollars in dealer and hedge fund losses in 2008 and early 2009. Having been badly burned, market participants might be forgiven for being a little wary about dipping their toes back in to the asset class. But far from shying away, investors have been pouring into the market over the past year, encouraged by what they perceive to be artificially low dividend expectations and the launch of a variety of listed dividend contracts.

This