Hedge Funds Up 0.12% In April


Date: Friday, May 4, 2012
Author: HFRI

Hedge funds were up slightly in April, with the HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index reporting a gain of 0.12%.

The positive performance was due, in part, to the showings of macro and relative value strategies and came as equity markets posted declines.

Macro CTA strategies gained 0.43% in April with contributions from systematic diversified funds, which gained 0.48% (but have posted the biggest YTD loss of all strategies, at 3.44%).

Relative value arbitrage strategies were up 0.29% in April, their fifth consecutive positive month, thanks in part to positive contributions from convertible arbitrage strategies (up 0.07%). RV multi-strategy funds added 0.12% while convertible arbitrage funds gained 0.07%.

Equity hedge strategies slipped 0.09% for the month, despite positive contributions from both fundamental growth strategies (up 0.33%) and fundamental value strategies (0.15%) offset by mixed performance in energy and weakness in market neutral strategies (down 1.52%). EH fundamental growth strategies led all strategies in YTD returns, with a gain of 6.54%.

Event driven funds lost 0.10% for April, with a narrow gain in merger arbitrage strategies (up 0.05%) offset by mixed performance in special situations (down 0.45%) and distressed strategies (down 0.51%).