Emerging manager hedge funds and managed futures funds started the new year with strong performance, according to a first estimation based on the data of 224 funds listed in Opalesque Solutions' Emanagers database.

The Emanagers Total Index continued its positive year-end trend and was up 1.82% in January.  Estimates for December and November were corrected down to +0.75% and +0.11%, respectively. Since inception in January 2009, the index posted compounded returns of 67%, compared to 41% for the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index and 53% for the MSCI World Index.

Both hedge funds and CTAs generated profits last month: The Emanagers Hedge Fund Index gained 2.56%, while the Emanagers CTA Index was up 0.64%.

However, emerging managers did not (significantly) outperform their established peers in January (Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index: +2.22%, Newedge CTA Index: +1.47%) and lagged behind the MSCI World Index, which posted a gain of 5%.

The macroeconomic environment in January drove a global stock market rally, helping all hedge fund strategies to post excellent returns:

Event-driven funds performed best (+5.58%), followed by multi-strategy funds (+2.93%). Directional long-bias and long/short strategies gained 2.78% and 2.76%, respectively. Global macro hedge funds gained 1.38%, and relative value strategies were up 1.12%.

Over the last 12 months, Opalesque calculated MSCI-correlation coefficients of 88% for Emanagers hedge funds and -31% for Emanagers CTAs, resulting in equity-market betas of 31% and -14%.

Performance (in %), Volatility and Equity Market Beta (in %)

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This article was published in Opalesque's New Managers a top-down monthly analysis, news and research publication on the global emerging manager space.