Hedge fund managers found good arbitrage opportunities in April as macro strategies posted a gain of 3.36%
This was the strongest performance among other hedge fund strategies in the same month and the greatest monthly gain for macro in two years.
Data from Hedge Fund Research showed that short US dollar positioning and long commodity exposure – in particular to silver, natural gas and oil – were primary drivers of the positive performance posted by the HFRI Macro (Total) Index. Discretionary strategies also contributed to positive performance on currency and fixed income exposure.
The firm found that macro gains were distributed across both systematic and discretionary, as well as across commodity and currency focused, sub-strategies.
Hedge funds overall also gained in April as the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index posted a 1.86% return, with positive contributions across all strategies.
The HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index performed positively at +1.21%. Sector exposure in technology and healthcare saw the strongest gains of 3.04% on improved earnings and consumer outlook. But, the positive performance was partially offset by declines in dedicated short-bias exposure as the related index fell by -3.15% over April.
Furthermore, as Asian financial markets had a volatile first quarter, Asian-focused hedge funds experienced steady gains. HFR found that capital invested in the Asian hedge fund industry increased by over $4.6bn (€3.2bn) to around $88.bn, reaching the highest level since peaking in the second quarter of 2008.
The $3.6bn in net new capital that investors allocated to Asian hedge funds in the first quarter of the year represented more than 10% of the $32bn in new capital allocated to hedge funds globally over the quarter. The number of hedge funds investing primarily in Asia also increased to 1,055 – the highest number since Q2 2008, said HFR.
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