Van Global Index Posts 0.1% Gain For March

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

19 April 2004

The Van Global Hedge Fund Index gained a modest 0.1% net last month according to Van Hedge Fund Advisors International, although the firm reports that the index still managed to outperform major equities indices.

The March Index performance is based on results from over 800 globally-based funds employing a wide variety of strategies. Over half of the funds (58%) returned positive figures, and when funds of funds are excluded, the index also returned 0.1% for the month.

Meanwhile, US-based funds in the Van U.S. Hedge Fund Index were flat for the month, versus a 0.3% return for the Van Offshore Hedge Fund Index which includes non-US-domiciled funds.

However, for the year to date, the 3.1% return from the Van Global index was the best first quarter performance since 2000, the firm reported. In comparison, the S&P 500 returned 1.7% for the same period, whilst the Nasdaq and Dow Jones indices each lost -0.4%. The longer term performance gap is even more striking. Over a five year period, the S&P has declined -5.9% whilst the Van Index gained 87.5% net of fees.

For the month of March, the S&P 500, NASDAQ and Dow Jones Industrial Average saw losses of -1.5%, -1.7%, and -2.0%, respectively.

In terms of performance by strategy group, Van reported that the Market Neutral Group performed best with a 0.3% net return while the Directional Trading Group and Specialty Strategies Group each returned 0.2% net. The Long/Short Equity Group was flat for the month.

For the first quarter, the Directional Trading Group yielded the best results, gaining 4.9% net, while the Market Neutral Group fared the worst of the four with a 2.7% net gain.

Among the individual strategies tracked by Van, Emerging Markets had the highest March return, 0.8% net, and the firm reports that this strategy has performed particularly well in recent months, returning 6.4% for the first quarter. Still, the top performing strategy for the quarter was Futures which gained 0.4% net last month and 8.1% net for the quarter.

While nine of the fifteen individual strategies tracked by Van were positive in March, five showed losses, including Short Selling, which posted the lowest March return, -1.1% net.

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