Hedge funds lag as sub strategy plunges

Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Author: InvestorDaily

Hedge funds returned 0.88 per cent in July and 4.59 per cent for the year to date as one sub strategy plunged deep into the red, the latest Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index has found.

In total, the industry saw estimated outflows of approximately $0.5 billion in July, bringing overall assets under management for the industry to approximately $1.9 trillion, according to Credit Suisse.

Dedicated short bias managers in the Credit Suisse global hedge fund index lost 5.74 per cent in July alone and are now behind 17.38 per cent for the year to date.

The best performed strategy year-to-date is long/short equity (9.10 per cent) which gained 1.95 per cent in July, followed by event-driven (8.64 per cent) which gained 1.51 per cent for the month.

Managed futures is the only other sub strategy in negative territory year to date (-4.61 per cent), down 1.06 per cent in July.

Credit Suisse commentary said dispersion at a sector level was greatest in multi-strategy and long/short equity strategies, but the bulk of returns were mostly positive for both strategies.

The strategies with the largest inflows by percentage of assets were dedicated short bias – despite its returns this year – and multi-strategy. Convertible Arbitrage had the largest outflows by percentage of assets and had relatively flat performance for the month, Credit Suisse stated.

Long/short equity benefited from positive global markets, with market sentiment broadly positive as investor fears over the tapering of stimulus subsided, Credit Suisse said.

The MSCI World gained 5.2 per cent for the month, slightly ahead of the hedge fund index.