Hedge funds continue downward slide

Hedge funds posted their second consecutive month of negative returns in April with the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index down 0.15% as global markets continued to falter amid a sluggish start to the year.

Read: Conservative clients could hedge bonds

On a year-to-date basis, hedge funds are up 0.78%, slightly ahead of the MSCI World Index which has returned 0.75% in the first four months of the year.

Key takeaways for April:

• Global hedge funds were up 0.78% year-to-date as North American, European and Latin American managers lead with gains of 2.16%, 1.03% and 0.38% respectively.

• The Top 100 best-performing hedge funds during the month posted average returns of 4.21%, with long/short equities and CTA/managed futures constituting 72% of these funds.

Read: 5 facts you may miss on hedge funds

• Net asset flows as at April 2014 year-to-date crossed the US$50 billion mark, with capital allocations to North American managers at US$24.8 billion and those to European managers at US$25.1 billion.

• Japanese hedge funds were down for the fourth consecutive month although they have outperformed the Nikkei 225 Index by more than 10% year-to-date, a significant outperformance.

• Latin America-focused managers surpassed all regional mandates delivering the strongest gains — up 0.77% in April, outperforming the MSCI EM Latin America Index by 1.51% on a year-to-date basis.

• Distressed debt, fixed income and arbitrage strategies delivered returns of 2.98%, 2.60% and 1.61% respectively.

Read: Are hedge funds suitable for the average investor?

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.