Australian hedge funds fell by 1.50 per cent in January, bringing their return for the last 12 months to 15 per cent, according to Australian Fund Monitors.
Equity based funds were down 1.83 per cent in January, while non-equity based funds fell 0.98 per cent, fund of funds fell 0.36 per cent and single funds 1.70 per cent.
A summary glance at the ASX 200 over the past six months or so shows a relatively range bound picture but with plenty of intra month volatility, as evidenced by the fall in late October and again in January when the ASX fell over six per cent.
January caught more than a few on the wrong side of the market, with figures to date showing volatility, equity market neutral and global diversified to be the only three strategies to post positive numbers.
However, only equity 130/30 (-6.34 per cent) underperformed the ASX, with commodities/CTAs also finding the going tough (-4.52 per cent) showing an unusually high correlation to equities as the underlying commodity markets fell sharply.
