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From Precy Dumlao, Opalesque Asia:

Partial results coming in from more than 200 absolute returns and hedge funds covered by the Australian Fund Monitor (AFM) Index showed an almost flat return of 0.7% in April (1.48% YTD), compared with ASX which returned -1.4% for the month.

In its "April Absolute Return and Hedge Fund Review" released last week, AFM said that Australia's hedge fund sector managed to post positive results even as the Greek debt and fiscal woes weighed down on the market in the final week of April.

Aside from that, many investors were wary of the new tax regime introduced by the Rudd administration. The most significant of which were the proposed "Resource Super Profits Tax" on the country's mining sector starting 2012, and the compulsory superannuation levy from 9% to 12% by 2020 - so that the nation's mineral resources may be redistributed to employees' retirement savings.

The fund management sector in Australia said this compulsory superannuation levy was in fact an "employment tax" paid for not by the government, but by employers. "The 'logic' of singling out specific sectors for penalty taxes on profits seems to display all the farsightedness of a politician in an election year without recognising the longer term message it sends to other industries (such as banking and wealth management) and to investors loo......................

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