Fri, Mar 29, 2024
A A A
Welcome Guest
Free Trial RSS pod
Get FREE trial access to our award winning publications
Industry Updates

Australian Fund Monitors Index returned 1.50% in July (+0.32% YTD) while ASX was up 4.46% (-7.75% YTD)

Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Opalesque Industry Update - According to Chris Gosselin, C.E.O. of Australian Fund Monitors Pty Ltd in Sydney, the current markets, whether they be equity or alternative, are proving to be testing times.

Although on a 12 month basis ASX 200 is still in positive territory, up 5.86%, over the 11 months period of September 2009 to the end of July 2010 the ASX 200 has gone nowhere. However that statistic obscures intra-month volatility which has tested fund managers, and long-suffering investors, with some wild swings.

In the past year the ASX 200 has made monthly gains or losses in excess of 5% on six occasions, with the 12% rally for August/September last year offset by the decline of a similar size from April to June 2010.

Index

July 2010

YTD

Last 12 Months

All Funds

1.50%

0.32%

8.12%

Equity Based

2.20%

-0.06%

10.43%

Non Equity Based

-0.27%

-0.04%

4.21%

ASX

4.46%

-7.75%

5.86%

S&P500

6.88%

-1.21%

11.56%

These are obviously not markets for trend followers. At the same time picking the timing of the market's next rise or fall has not been easy given the abrupt nature of directional changes.

Stock picking has been no easier, as has been shown in the past couple of weeks by the likes of Commonwealth Bank, Telstra, AWB and Leighton. This makes it interesting to look through managers' performance reports to see those which highlight positive performance from a particular earnings surprise or event, offset by another manager's negative performance from the same event.

So while it's been tough, it's been encouraging to see equity-based hedge funds at least make headway of close to 10% while the market has bounced up and down on the same spot. In addition year-to-date they have outperformed the ASX by close to 8%. That's not to say that there hasn't been significant monthly volatility within the hedge fund sector, and some significant under and over performance by particular funds.

15% of all funds in the AFM database turned in a negative performance over the past 12 months, whilst at the other end of the spectrum a similar percentage returned over 25%. Some managers that had previously provided stable results started to show that they were not infallible, whilst others continued to provide the consistency we had come to expect.

So while the markets are continuing to test fund managers, some managers' performances are continuing to test investors.

fundmonitors.com.au.


Bg

What do you think?

   Use "anonymous" as my name    |   Alert me via email on new comments   |   
Previous Opalesque Exclusives                                  
Previous Other Voices                                               
Access Alternative Market Briefing

 



  • Top Forwarded
  • Top Tracked
  • Top Searched
  1. KKR raises $6.4bn for the largest pan-Asia infrastructure fund[more]

    Laxman Pai, Opalesque Asia: The New York-based global investment firm KKR has raised a record $6.4bn for its second Asia-focused infrastructure fund, underlining investors' continued appetite for private markets. According to a media release from the alternative assets manager, the figure top

  2. Bucking the trend, top hedge fund makes plans for a second SPAC[more]

    From Institutional Investor: SPACs aren't dead. At least not to the folks at Cormorant Asset Management. The life sciences firm, whose hedge fund topped its peers in 2023, is confident it will match the success of its first blank-check company. Last week, the life sciences and biopharma speciali

  3. Benefit Street Partners closes fifth fund on $4.7 billion[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: Benefit Street Partners has closed its fifth flagship direct lending vehicle, BSP Debt Fund V, with $4.7 billion of investable capital across the strategy. Benefit Street invests primarily in privately originated, floating rate, senior secured loans. The fun

  4. 4 hedge fund themes that are working in 2024[more]

    From The Street: A poor earnings report from Tesla (TSLA) has not hurt the indexes on Thursday. The decline in Tesla stock, which is losing its position in the Magnificent Seven pantheon, is more than offset by strong earnings from IBM (IBM) and ServiceNow (NOW) . In addition, the much higher-t

  5. Opalesque Exclusive: A global macro fund eyes opportunities in bonds[more]

    Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York for New Managers: Munich-based ThirdYear Capital rebounded in 2023, following a tough year for global macro. The firm's flagship ART Global Macro strategy finished the year up 1