The past week has seen a continuation of the broadly positive results from Australia’s absolute return and hedge fund sector, and with 94 per cent of single funds’ October returns recorded, the average performance (non-weighted) was 1.80 per cent for the month.
Both year-to-date and over the past 12 months the sector has significantly outperformed what is shaping up to be a pretty lacklustre year for the ASX 200, according to statistics from Australian Fund Monitors.
Of interest is that there is not much difference between the performance of equity and non-equity results both for October, year-to-date, and over the past 12 months. When looking at individual strategies there is little difference either, although commodities/CTA at 3.02 per cent and managed futures at 2.7 per cent were the best performers in October.
Equity funds rose 1.85 per cent in October (4.23 per cent YTD) and non-equity funds rose 1.57 per cent (5.21 per cent YTD).
Over the past 12 months absolute return long only equity funds performed best at 13.29 per cent, in a significant outperformance to the ASX200 and reflecting a flat market where specific stocks and sectors have significantly rewarded concentrated funds, and those managers who have proven to be good stock pickers.
The ASX 200 rose 1.72 per cent in October and is down 4.30 per cent YTD.
Taurus Precious Metals Strategy rose 4.6 per cent in October, reflecting the strong performance of not only gold bullion which has risen 28 per cent YTD, but also palladium and silver which have risen 68 per cent and 59 per cent respectively over the same period.
Pengana’s Global Resources Fund rose 5.25 per cent, also benefiting from the generally higher commodity prices in October and the weakening US dollar.
