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Australian hedge funds rose by 0.22 per cent in August, according to data from Australian Fund Monitors.
Most funds weathered a mixed and difficult company reporting season, which saw the ASX200 lose 1.99 per cent.
Equity strategies overall slipped 0.26 per cent with market neutral (+1.18 per cent) equity income (+0.96 per cent) and event driven (+0.75 per cent) the leaders to date.
Mon equity funds fared better at +1.53 per cent overall, with global macro (+4.22 per cent) the standout strategy, followed by managed futures at +1.07 per cent.
Proposed short selling disclosure regulations announced by the European Commission are too stringent and threaten market efficiency, according to the International Securities Lending Association.
Isla supports transparency measures that create disclosure symmetries with long positions, including private disclosure to regulators and anonymised reporting of aggregate reported positions, but believes the EC’s proposed public disclosure threshold of 0.5 per cent for short sales is too low.
“Evidence from prime brokers and market studies show that short selling activity is artificially reduced by investors seeking to avoid short selling above public disclosure thresholds. This undermines market efficiency by reducing liquidity and price
Newedge USA has brokered and centrally cleared its first dealer-to-client interest rate swap transactions at the International Derivatives Clearinghouse, a derivatives clearing organisation owned by the International Derivatives Clearing Group and regulated by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
The initial interest rate swap transactions totaled over USD100m in notional value and involved asset manager and dealer clients.
Newedge joined IDCH’s client clearing platform as a member in March 2010.
“Our membership with IDCG is an important extension to the OTC clearing platform we offer our clients,” says Nicolas Breteau, Newedge’s chief executive. “Newedge has devoted considerable resources
A survey conducted by Schleus Marktforschung on behalf of Hamburg based alternative asset manager Aquila Capital has revealed a stark divide between German institutional investors who are already investing in alternatives as an asset class and those that are not.
Seventy four per cent of respondents who do not already hold alternative investments in their portfolios intend to stay away from the asset class, but 70 per cent of investors who already hold alternative investments are planning additional acquisitions within the year.
According to the survey, 66 per cent of institutional investors who are investing in absolute return funds
The size of the European repo market now stands at EUR 6,979bn, an increase of 25 per cent from EUR5,582bn in December 2009, according to a survey by the European Repo Council of the International Capital Market Association.
This figure takes the size of the market above the previous highest figure of EUR6,775bn recorded in June 2007 before the financial crisis.
The results of the survey confirm the continuing recovery of the European repo market and the underlying trading activity that it supports.
The survey is based on returns received from 57 offices of 52 financial groups, mostly banks,
China has emerged as one of the world’s top ten countries tackling climate change, according to the third annual review of the HSBC Climate Change Index.
Boosted by private sector climate-related investment, which has grown 30-fold since 2004, coupled with strong political leadership and focused climate stimulus spend, China is poised to be at the forefront of developments in the emerging low carbon economy.
Globally, the climate change sector has proved resilient to the global slowdown, seeing less than a 0.9 per cent decline in revenues in 2009. In contrast, the revenues of the approximately 2,400 companies in the
Helen Wyatt, a senior associate in Mourant Ozannes’ Guernsey office, will join the London team later this month.
Wyatt (pictured) joined Mourant Ozannes in 2001, qualifying as an English solicitor in 2004 and as a Guernsey advocate in 2007. Her current practice includes banking and finance, corporate and funds work.
The appointment comes as Mourant Ozannes celebrates the tenth anniversary of the opening of its London office; in 2000 it became the first law firm from the Channel Islands to operate from a London base.
Jonathan Rigby, managing partner, Mourant Ozannes, says: “London is an extremely important market for Mourant
Hedge funds ended August in marginally negative territory as stocks lost ground and commodities slid on weak economic data, suggesting a slower pace of economic growth, a report by Lipper says.
Hedge funds fell 0.20 per cent in August, according to the Lipper Hedge Fund Composite Index.
August’s loss brought the year-to-date loss to 1.40 per cent.
Managed futures (+1.29 per cent) was the best performing strategy for the month, while options arbitrage (+0.78 per cent) was the runner-up. Managed futures was the only strategy finishing the month of August in positive territory. Managers were able to capitalise on long
An industry research report published by the European Fund and Asset Management Association and KPMG shows there are significant tax complications in the new Ucits IV Directive that prevent the achievement of a harmonised European funds industry.
The report identifies critical tax issues and numerous examples of unequal treatment and inefficiencies across the 27 European Union member states.
The report, entitled Analysis of the tax implications of Ucits IV, recognises that the Ucits IV Directive to be implemented by member states by July 2011 offers considerable scope for re-structuring fund management operations in the EU. The directive introduces six
Hedge funds slid 0.29 per cent in August, according to the Barclay Hedge Fund Index compiled by BarclayHedge.
“Global equity markets beat a retreat in August as the ‘fear trade’ returned with a vigour after having been smothered by increased risk appetite in July,” says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge. “The fear trade is a product of investor nervousness and typically gives rise to selling of equities and purchases of US treasury bonds.”
The Barclay Equity Long Bias Index lost 2.03 per cent in August, equity long/short was down 0.76 per cent, while the Equity Market Neutral Index
