Hedge funds delivered a flat-to-marginally negative performance in March as the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index dropped 0.18%1 for the month. Global markets witnessed divergent trends as US economic data continued to be positive, although Europe and Asia saw some declines and the MSCI World Index gained 0.39%2.
Total assets under management (AuM) declined by US$13 billion taking the size of the hedge fund industry to US$1.75 trillion. Most of these losses came from net negative asset flows of US$12.6 billion, largely attributed to profit taking by investors as well as concerns over the strength of equity market rallies. The sector also witnessed some performance-based losses of US$400 million as gains posted by North America investing managers were offset by losses suffered by their globally investing counterparts.
Figure 1: Summary monthly asset flow data since December 2009
Key highlights for March 2012:
- Long/short equity, multi-strategy and relative value funds witnessed their best quarter since 3Q 2009 with gains of 6.15%, 4.57% and 4.61% respectively
- Assets in hedge funds crossed US$1.75 trillion, gaining nearly US$50 billion in the first three months of 2012 ...
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Footnote
2 MSCI AC World Index All Core – USD