Hedge Funds Rebound In April

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

12 May 2008

The Greenwich Global Hedge Fund Index (GGHFI) returned 1.68% in April, rebounding from a 2.05% loss in March, Greenwich Alterntive Investments reported on Friday.

Year-to-date, the GGHFI has posted a loss of 1.40%, outperforming the S&P 500, MSCI World Equity, and FTSE 100 indices which have year-to-date returns of -5.03%, -5.03%, and -5.72%, respectively. 74% of constituent funds in the GGHFI ended the month with gains.

“Rebounding global credit and equity markets are evident in the returns of hedge fund managers this month,” notes Margaret Gilbert, Managing Director. “Seven of the Greenwich sub-strategy index groups now exhibit positive year-to-date performance.”

Long/Short Equity managers were the best performing strategy group of hedge funds during the month, posting a gain of 2.69% due to strengthening global equity markets.

Opportunistic funds showed the highest average gains within the group, while managers who specialize in short-selling suffered the greatest losses.

Directional Trading managers, the best performing strategy group so far this year, posted lacklustre returns of -0.14% as Futures managers lost 1.11%.

Specialty Strategy managers were second-best performing strategy group in April, returning 1.80% on average.

Emerging Markets managers led this group with a return of 2.44%.

The Market Neutral Group rebounded 1.25% on the month as more stable credit markets allowed managers to realize profits.

All subsectors of the Market Neutral Group gained on the month, but Fixed Income Arbitrage and Distressed Securities managers were the most successful, showing returns of 2.04% and 1.50%, respectively.

The April Index currently includes 1,048 constituent funds. Final April results will be posted by Greenwich in early May, once additional funds have submitted returns.

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