Hedge funds posted their fourth consecutive month of losses with Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index down 0.54% in September, while the MSCI World Index lost 3.60% during the month. On a year-to-date basis, hedge funds are up 0.67% and have outperformed underlying markets by 6.01%, as represented by the MSCI World Index.
Here are some key takeaways from the report.
• Among developed market investment mandates, Japanese and European managers lead with year-to-date gains of 3.19% and 3.14% respectively, while North American hedge funds are down 1.21%.
• The CBOE Eurekahedge Relative Value Volatility Hedge Fund Index was the best performing strategic mandate in September 2015 and on a year-to-date basis, up 2.19% and 5.00% respectively.
• Greater China investing hedge funds were up 1.29%, and have preserved their gains from early-2015 with gains of 4.44% year-to-date, outperforming the CSI 300 Index by almost 14%.
• Distressed debt hedge fund strategies posted their fifth consecutive month of negative returns, down 1.59%. On a year-to-date basis, distressed debt funds have posted the worst return among all hedge fund strategic mandates, down 3.94% and are on track to post their worst performance since 2008 amid concerns over the prospects of high yield debt.
• Asia ex-Japan hedge funds were up 0.57% and 4.18% year-to-date — the best return among all hedge fund regional investment mandates. In comparison, the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan is down 9.05% year-to-date.
This story originally appeared on the site of our sister publication Advisor.