Global hedge funds posted gains in August despite market rollercoaster

Global hedge funds posted positive results in August even as the unwind in popular yen carry trades whipsawed markets, bank research and sources familiar with the funds' performance showed on Wednesday.
 

Hedge funds posted an average positive 1.3 per cent return for the month, according to a prime brokerage research note from JPMorgan on Tuesday and seen by Reuters on Wednesday.
 

Some strategies performed better than others as, early in the month world stocks sank in response to US recession concerns and as a surprise Japanese rate increase wrong-footed currency speculators. Equity markets later rebounded to near-record highs.
 

Multi-strategy hedge funds that house many different kinds of trading desks under one roof averaged 0.1 per cent for the same period, the bank added.
 

Citadel's flagship multi-strategy fund Wellington was up roughly 1 per cent last month, as well as Schonfeld Strategic Advisors' flagship fund Strategic Partners.
 

British hedge fund firm Winton Capital, overseeing $12.3 billion, finished August down roughly 0.2 per cent and 1.8 per cent in its multi-strategy Winton Fund and its Diversified Macro Fund, respectively.
 

The multi-strategy Winton Fund, which uses quantitative trading, is up 8.1 per cent for the year so far, whereas the Diversified Macro fund is up 4 per cent for the same time period.
 

Stock trading hedge funds relying on systematic algorithms to trade returned roughly 2 per cent for the month to Aug. 30, JPMorgan said.

The stock trading Eureka Fund of British hedge fund Marshall Wace, co-founded by Paul Marshall, finished down 0.46 per cent for August but was still almost 11 per cent higher since the start of the year, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, asking not to be named.
 

The $68.4 billion hedge fund's Market Neutral Tops fund, meanwhile, returned 1.72 per cent in August, contributing to a 18.53 per cent year-to-date gain.