Hedge fund returns best in ten years, says HFN

Date: Monday, August 10, 2009
Author: HedgeWeek

The HFN Hedge Fund Aggregate Average was up 2.44 per cent in July and up 11.89 per cent for the first seven months of 2009, according to HedgeFund.net.

It is the highest first seven month performance since 1999, when hedge funds ended up 30.20 per cent and averaged 14.45 per cent in the two subsequent years.

The company says positive hedge fund performance in July was driven by strong equity markets while directional fixed income still appears to be generating near record performance.

CTA/managed futures funds continued to lag performance of equity related strategies despite broadly higher commodity prices.

Convertible arbitrage funds returned over six per cent in July and are the best performing strategy in 2009.

Funds in drawdowns continued to decrease. At the end of 2008, 74 per cent of funds were in the midst of near term drawdowns (within last two years) and at the end of July 2009 the number fell to 66 per cent.

Fifty four per cent of funds are below January 2008 levels. At the end of 2008, 64 per cent of funds currently in the HFN database funds were in negative territory.