Alternative Investments Posted Better Returns In September

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

20 October 2004

September has generally been a good month for the alternative investments sector, with three quarters of the funds that have so far reported data for the month in positive territory, according to hedge fund consultant CogentHedge.

Of the 60% of reporting entities that have revealed their returns, Cogent’s monthly performance newsletter shows that the average gain in September was 1.43%. This compares to a negligible monthly gain of 0.03% in August.

The largest gain for the month of September was more than 28% (six funds posted gains of nearly 20% or better) and the largest loss was more than 21%, although the next biggest drop was a more reasonable 9.5%.

Returns for individual investment strategies ranged from a high of 1.89% for emerging markets equity strategies to a low of -1.84% for short selling strategies. Seventeen sub-strategies posted negative results for the month while fifteen showed gains.

The top five investment strategies in September were: Emerging Markets Equity, gaining 5.09%; Market Timing (3.13%); Income (2.65%); Value (2.36%); and Growth (2.09%).

The average fund is up by 2.38% year to date, stated Cogent.

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