Mirroring the mixed performance by equities, the Credit Suisse/Tremont Hedge Fund Index rose 0.5% in June, while HedgeFund.net reported a 0.4% increase.
Readings last week from Hennessee Group LLC and Hedge Fund Research showed similarly meager gains. But the industry is solidly higher on the year, outpacing the major stock market indexes after record declines in 2008 for hedge funds.
Credit Suisse/Tremont said credit-oriented funds generally outperformed directional, event-driven and tactical strategies in June. It and HedgeFund.net noted government activism in the markets continued in Europe, as the European Central Bank provided $614.17 billion to banks at a 1% rate. Many analysts say this could create opportunities for credit-oriented funds and for carry trades.
Convertible arbitrage funds were the month's best performers, with a 4% gain, Credit Suisse/Tremont said, while managed futures funds performed the worst, falling 2.3%. Stock markets generally moved sideways for the month, allowing some of the long/short equity managers to take profits.
HedgeFund.net said hedge funds saw net inflows in June after eight months of outflows.
Funds focused on emerging markets were up 0.3% in June, HedgeFund.net said. Convertible arbitrage funds led first-half performers, up 23%, while short-bias funds performed the worst in the first half, down 7.6%.
