(Investment Europe) – Data from Eurekahedge suggest that the hedge fund industry grew its total assets by $75bn through 2012, as its own benchmark Hedge Fund Index underperformed the MSCI World over the year.<\/p>\n
The data provider, which monitors some 26,000 products including hedge funds, funds of funds, Ucits, private equity, Islamic and property funds, said managers faced a difficult trading environment over the period.<\/p>\n
Markets were hit by risk-on and risk-off modes driven by political and macro events rather than fundamentals.<\/p>\n
The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 1% in December, bringing the yearly number to 5.63%. The MSCI World Index1 returned 2.28% in December and was up 13.75% for year 2012.<\/p>\n
These overall figures hide some significant performance differences between discrete months.<\/p>\n
Eurekahedge said that hedge funds started the year on a strong positive note, gaining 4.16% in the first two months before posting losses for four consecutive months. Performance rebounded in the second half of the year, with hedge funds gaining 3.92%, when markets rallied amid positive announcements by governments around the world.<\/p>\n