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Roughly 76% of underlying constituent funds for the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index were in positive territory this month, with majority of them being long/short equities mandated. Equity markets continued to perform well this month with strength led by US and emerging Asian markets.

Encouraging macroeconomic data from US and Japan buoyed economic recovery sentiments with growth in manufacturing activity adding to much optimism. On the other hand, data coming out of the Europe was rather lukewarm subdued inflation figures, the failure in German coalition talks and a strengthening euro. Meanwhile early estimates put hedge fund returns in positive territory at 0.36% for the month of December. Barring any major event materialising for the rest of the month this should see the global hedge fund industry ending 2017 with gains of 7.81% - 322 basis points higher in comparison to annual gains for 2016.

Returns were mixed across the board of regional mandates with Asia ex-Japan hedge fund managers delivering the best returns, up 1.46% over the month, followed by Japan and North American mandated hedge funds with gains of 0.92% and 0.76% respectively. On the other hand, Latin American mandated hedge funds posted the steepest decline in November, down 1.38% followed by European mandated hedge funds with losses of 0.44%. On a year-to-date basis, Asia ex-Japan hedge fund managers led the table gained 19.84% followed by their emerging markets and Japanese counterparts with returns of 15.16% and 12.09% respectively. Below are the key highlights for the month of November 2017:

• Hedge funds are on track to post their strongest returns since 2013 with gains of 0.24% in November and estimated returns of 0.36% for the month of December. Barring any major event materialising for the rest of the month this should see the global hedge fund industry ending 2017 with gains of 7.81% - 322 basis points higher in comparison to annual gains for 2016.

• Total hedge fund industry AUM has grown by almost 7% in 2017 following a contraction in 2016 on the back of strong performance-based gains and a renewed interest from investors. Industry assets have grown by US$160 billion in 2017 in contrast to a US$ 20 billion decline last year.

• Fund closures continued to outpace launch activity for the second consecutive year with 490 funds liquidating in 2017 whilst the number of startups for the year stands at 451. While Asia and North America have seen a net growth in fund population, Europe has seen a decline for the third year running.

• The top 5 best performing hedge fund strategies for 2017 remain as: equity long-bias, equity long/short, multi-strategy, short volatility and event driven with gains of 15.24%, 11.03%, 8.93%, 8.74% and 7.47% respectively.

• On a year-to-date basis, Japanese hedge fund managers led across developed market mandates and were up 12.09%, followed by their European and North American counterparts gaining 6.60% and 5.55% respectively.

• Emerging market mandates continued to outshine their developed market peers in 2017 year-to-date, with Greater China, India and Asia ex-Japan hedge funds up 27.83%, 27.64% and 19.81% respectively. Latin America and Eastern Europe mandated funds were also up 12.14% and 10.11% for the year.

• Average performance and management fees charged by new hedge funds launching in 2017 stand at 17.11% and 1.26% respectively, comparing with figures of 16.52% and 1.41% for 2016.