Major managed futures CTAs found significant difficulty in April as the large-cap Newedge CTA index finished the month down -3.16 percent as a decided trend favors Asian and foreign hedge funds.
Institutional managed futures CTAs find difficulty late in April
Gold-plated CTA hedge funds with significant institutional backing missed on the downside in April as new trends appear to be emerging in commodities and trade in the U.S. dollar is flagging. In this environment, hedge funds with a large asset footprint, often investing in the most widely traded commodities and financial products, found difficulty. Anthony Todd’s $1 billion Aspect Diversified fund was down -9.7 percent in April, Cantab Capital was hit -9 percent, a Bloomberg Briefs report noted.
Man’s AHL Diversified momentum strategy was off 6.2 percent as the world’s largest publically traded hedge fund saw net outflows of $1.3 billion in the first quarter, the first such asset loss since 2013. Overall, however, the total assets under management rose to $82 billion as the firm has engaged in significant strategy diversification. Winton’s flagship Futures fund was down 4 percent and is up 0.5 percent on the year, as the sector was hard hit by trend reversals, particularly at the end of the month, with the Newedge CTA index losing nearly 2 percent on April 29th alone.
One non CTA which got slaughtered was Crispin Odey’s fund which is now the worst performer on the list. ValueWalk first reported the rough month on May 5th.
Paulson and Platt find better days as Asian hedge funds takes off
John Paulson’s group of hedge funds, who benefited from exposure to volatility through certain energy mergers and Greek banks, were broadly higher in April, according to Bloomberg, with the event driven Advantage fund up 2.6 percent on the month and higher by 4.5 percent year to date.
Michael Platt’s $12.5 billion BlueCrest Capital Management might be thinking the dog days are over, as the fund posted its most significant gain in over five years, benefiting from a derivative of the “Gross trade,” as European bonds sold off. The BlueCrest Capital International fund was up 2.8 percent in April but is down 3.5 percent on the year.
One successful hedge fund investment theme visible in the Bloomberg report and in the weekly HSBC hedge fund reviews is a booming Asian market. Mizuho Financial Group’s Ark One, investing in public and private credit in China, was up 19 percent in April, and CIO Jeffrey Yap’s fund is up 29 percent year to date. In the HSBC weekly survey the top funds include the Quam China Focus Segregated Portfolio, up 47.35 percent year to date; the Segahtii Asia-Pacific Equity Multi-Strategy Fund, up 24.15 percent. Seven of the top 20 performers in the HSBC survey had an Asian focus.
The post Asian Hedge Funds Power April Returns While Managed Futures Names Hard Hit appeared first on ValueWalk.
Like this article? Sign up for our free newsletter to get articles delivered to your inbox