Long-only leads hedge fund returns in July -Lipper

Date: Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Author: Forbes.com

Long-only hedge fund strategies posted the best returns of the asset class in July as global stock markets continued their upward trend, according to data in a report published by Lipper Global on Tuesday.

As the industry looks to repair itself following last year's heavy losses and record redemptions, these new figures will give more ammunition to market watchers who claim that the industry is on the road to recovery.

The data from the Thomson Reuters company showed that long-only hedge funds posting a 4.75 percent return for the month, building on gains of 14.34 percent for the year-to-date.

'Hedge funds have benefitted from an equity market certainly boosted and buoyed by better-than-expected corporate earnings,' said Aureliano Gentilini, global head of hedge fund research.

He pointed out the sustained rally in the second part of July in global stock markets.

The information released ahead of Lipper's monthly Hedge Fund Insight Report, which is due at the end of August, showed that all hedge fund strategies posted a positive performance last month, with long/short equity and multi strategies both giving returns of 0.81 percent.

Short bias strategies made a 0.40 percent return, boosted by profitable short sale strategies in the first half of the month, Lipper data showed.

Global stock markets gained 8.5 percent in July, according to the MSCI World TR Index. They continued their rally from March lows, fuelled by hopes that the worst of the financial crisis has passed.

However, stock markets remained very sensitive to macroeconomic factors, said Gentilini.

'The market is already looking for the next macro catalyst to drive market direction; there are a still a number of risks of market correction,' he said.

Among the other hedge fund strategies, options arbitrage performed strongly in July, with returns of 0.88 percent. Event-driven was the worst-performer, posting a 0.19 percent return.

(Reporting by Simon Meads; editing by Karen Foster)