Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia: Hedge funds rallied strongly in April moving the industry into positive territory for the first time this year, with the Barclay Hedge Fund Index gaining 1.05% during the month and 0.07% YTD, said data provider BarclayHedge.
Sol Waksman,founder and president of BarclayHedge, commented, "Improving trade data out of China, strengthening exchange rates for commodity linked currencies, a strong rally in high yield bonds, and a 20 percent surge in the price of crude oil provided ample impetus for the profitable hedge fund strategies in April."
He added that overall, 12 of Barclay’s 18 hedge fund indices gained ground last month. The
Event Driven Index was up 2.40%, distressed securities gained 2.41%, healthcare and biotechnology was up 2.14%, convertible arbitrage gained 1.81%, and emerging markets added 1.27%.
In the loss column, European equities were down 0.90%, equity short bias lost 0.83%, the Equity Market Neutral Index gave up 0.61%, the Pacific Rim equities index lost 0.63%, and merger arbitrage was down 0.24%.
"Although global equity markets moved higher on the month, the dispersion of the returns of different sectors was quite high," said Waksman. And added, "Big name stocks with large hedge fund followings such as Apple and Microsoft also performed poorly in April."
After four months in 2016, ten of Barclay’s hedge fund indices are in negative territory, while ei...................... To view our full article Click here
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