It’s fair to say that 2010 wasn’t a stellar year for global hedge funds.
It’s fair to say that 2010 wasn’t a stellar year for global hedge funds. According to Hedge Fund Research, its HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index ended the year up just 4.75 per cent, lagging way behind the S&P 500 Index which gained 10.55 per cent. Having said that, Asia didn’t do quite as bad. The HFRX Asia ex-Japan Index finished +8.92 per cent for the year, whilst the HFRX Asia with Japan Index fared slightly better, up 9.15 per cent. The HFRX China Index ended the year with returns of +9.45 per cent. Eurekahedge’s figures for Asia ex-Japan came in at a slightly higher level, +10.62 per cent, although this is based on a small percentage of funds posting performance for December. In terms of winning and losing strategies for Asia ex-Japan, CTA/Managed Futures (+13.40 per cent) and Fixed Income (+19.42 per cent excluding December) did strongly in 2010, whilst equity l/s, with gains of 9.24 per cent, was hardly a poor performer. Multi-strategy gained +2.88 per cent in December to leave it +10.44 per cent for the year, with event-driven down slightly for the month (-0.68 per cent) for a year-end return of 10.48 per cent. Japan hedge funds finally found some consistency, posting gains in the last four months to finish +6.94 per cent for the year. Greater China funds ended 2010 up 11.32 per cent.
