It’s not been a great start to the year for Asia ex-Japan hedge funds.
It’s not been a great start to the year for Asia ex-Japan hedge funds. A 1.35 per cent loss (at the time of writing) for February, follows a -1.45 per cent loss in January to leave them -2.78 per cent YTD according to the latest figures released by Eurekahedge. They made a similarly slow start last year but still managed to deliver double-digit returns by end-December so there’s no need to be too downbeat at this early stage. However, the poor performance does seem to be mirroring declines in the region’s underlying markets, the MSCI Asia Pacific ex-Japan Index falling -2.36 per cent for February. Japan is on a roll, gaining 2.15 per cent for the month to leave them up 3.26 per cent YTD. That’s the sixth consecutive monthly gain, equating to gains of over 10 per cent. Looking at Asia ex-Japan funds by strategy, equity l/s funds lost 1.27 per cent, with arbitrage down 1.31 per cent. The biggest declines, however, were recorded for CTA/Managed Futures: -5.74 per cent, leaving them down 5.21 per cent for the year. A rather terrible month it has to be said. Event-driven funds lost -0.87 per cent. Fixed income funds did better, gaining 1.49 per cent, with Relative Value funds also gaining 1.44 per cent to eradicate some of last month’s losses (-6.17 per cent).
