The LuxHedge Global UCITS Index fell by 1.64 per cent during August, one of the worst monthly performances experienced in years. This strong decline reflects the catastrophic trend exhibited by the global markets.
The equity markets massively suffered with -9.10 per cent in Europe, -6.02 per cent in the United States (US), -9.01 per cent in Emerging Countries and -6.55 per cent for the MSCI World Index.
“Under these circumstances, we gave a careful look at the long/short equity strategies, assessing if the managers could float in these very troubled waters,” says the LuxHedge Research Team. “The answer is yes: the LuxHedge Long/Short Europe UCITS Index offered strong downside protection to investors with “only” a -1.34 per cent decline (-9.10 per cent for European equities) while the LuxHedge Equity Market Neutral UCITS Index exhibited an impressive flat performance of -0.10 per cent (-6.55 per cent for the MSCI World). The LuxHedge Long/Short UCITS Index experienced more difficulties, with a -2.49 per cent decline. It reflects the extreme difficulty to implement an efficient directional long/short equity strategy in the Emerging markets but also and more surprisingly in the US markets.”
In August, the total amount of AuM (Assets under Management) decreased from EUR384bn to EUR383bn, essentially due to the negative performance of the Alternative UCITS funds. The number of components is still growing from 1,273 in July to 1,282 Alternative UCITS fundstoday. Unsurprisingly, many of new long/short equity UCITS funds were launched (8 sub-funds) in August.
