MarketWatch – Hedge funds had their best quarter in two and a half years during the first three months of 2006, as emerging-market and technology strategies gained more than 10%, Hedge Fund Researchsaid Monday.
The HFR Fund Weighted Composite Index climbed 1.85% in March, leaving it up 5.87% during the first quarter of this year, HFR reported. That’s the best performance since the second quarter of 2003, when the index jumped 7.74%, according to data from the industry-research firm.
Hedge-fund performance topped U.S. equity-market benchmarks during the first quarter of 2006. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU) and the S&P 500 Index ($SPX) climbed less than 3% in the period, while the Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPQ) rose less than 5%.
The Barclay Group, another firm that tracks hedge fund performance, said managers have done even better during the first quarter, rising 6.1% on average.
“Despite recent prognostications of the demise of hedge funds, 2006 has gotten off to the best start since the first quarter of 2000, when the Barclay Hedge Fund Index gained 9.65 percent,” said Sol Waksman, president of The Barclay Group.
“Six years ago, both the DJIA and the tech-heavy Nasdaq reached all-time highs,” Waksman added. “Then, as now, hedge fund returns were given a boost by rising equity markets.”
