The AsiaHedge Composite Index declined by 0.77% in May, as regional indices fell across the board last month. The only exceptions were Australia and China where economic strains are not as severe.
The Nikkei suffered a loss of 4.47%. However, hedge funds in this sector did well on the whole to contain losses and outperform the benchmark with a marginal loss of -0.86%. This brings year-to-date returns to 9.35%.
The Asia ex-Japan universe fell by 1.87%, resulting in a loss of 0.11% for the year. Australian funds performed well but compared to their benchmark, they gained only 0.89%, against a rise of 1.16% for the Australian All Ordinaries Index.
Emerging markets hedge fund managers continue to weather particularly difficult market conditions in this sector. The AsiaHedge Emerging Markets index witnessed a second negative month since January 2003.
However, the sector outperformed the MSCI Emerging Markets Free Net, which fell by 2%, resulting in a negative return of 1.39%. The Bank of Bermuda AsiaHedge indices show median returns each month and measure the performance of hedge funds in four geographies, including Japan, Asia excluding Japan, Asia including Japan, and Australia.