Hedge funds ended their five-month winning streak, ending June down down 0.19 per cent according to preliminary figures for the month released by EurekaHedge.
The average return of the Eurekahege Hedge Fund Index was drawn into negative territory in June as developed market mandates underperformed their emerging market peers; with trend-following and macro strategies lagging behind the pack.
Meanwhile, underlying markets as represented by the MSCI AC World Index (Local) were up 0.18 per cent over the same period. Equity markets posted mixed results with European equities ending the month in the red whilst North American mandates posted modest gains. In contrast emerging market equity mandates were the bright spot led by strong gains for Chinese equities. Concerns over tightening monetary policy in developed markets (sans Japan) weighted on market sentiment, though there was some support from positive macro numbers coming out from China where Q2 GDP growth appears to be holding steady.
Among regional mandates, Japan mandated hedge funds topped the table for the month with gains of 1.58 per cent, followed by Asia ex-Japan and Latin America mandated hedge funds with 1.12 per cent and 0.86 per cent growth respectively. Emerging markets hedge funds were also up this month with 0.67 per cent. On the other hand, European hedge funds posted a decline of 0.18 per cent while North American fund managers posted modest returns of 0.32 per cent.
On a year to-date basis, hedge funds are up 3.03 per cent while underlying markets grew 7.65 per cent. Asia ex-Japan hedge fund managers lead the table up 9.10 per cent followed by their emerging markets and Latin American counterparts witnessing growth of 7.41 per cent and 6.79 per cent respectively.
