New York (HedgeCo.Net) – Morningstar has reported preliminary hedge fund performance for February 2013 as well as estimated asset flows through January 2013. The Morningstar MSCI Composite Hedge Fund Index rose 0.5% in February and 5.4% over the trailing 12 months.

The top three performing hedge fund strategies in February were small/mid cap, European, and emerging market equities. In January 2013, single-manager funds in Morningstar’s hedge fund database had inflows of $3.3 billion, marking the first month of inflows after four months of outflows.

The worst-performing strategies for February were global macro and trend-following. The challenging conditions of rapid trend reversalsthat have prevailed for over two years continued in February. The Morningstar MSCI Systematic Trading Hedge Fund Index, which representstrend-following strategies, posted a 1.6% decline, while the Morningstar
MSCI Directional Trading Hedge Fund Index, which also includes global-macro strategies, fell 1.2% for the month.

In January 2013, single-manager funds in Morningstar’s hedge fund database had inflows of $3.3 billion, marking the first month of inflows after four months of outflows. Hedge funds in the Multistrategy category had the largest inflows in January, adding $1.8 billion. Global macro hedge funds also saw inflows, gaining $873 million in assets. The biggest outflows occurred in the Long-Only Other and Global Long/Short Equity categories, leaking $738 million and $142 million, respectively, during the month. Over the trailing 12 months, investors have pulled $1.1 billion from hedge funds tracked by Morningstar.