September Sees Boost in Hedge Fund Index Returns: MSCI

NEW YORK (HedgeWorld.com)–Long/short equity managers’ performance rose along with that of equity markets in September, helping the MSCI Hedge Fund Composite Index gain 1.15% last month.

For the year through Sept. 30, the index is up only 1.95%, as discretionary trading funds and other hedge fund strategies gained ground after posting losses earlier in the year. By comparison, the MSCI World Equity Index rose 1.89% in September.

The composite index captures performance in five strategy sub-indexes, each of which has struggled over the course of 2004.

The MSCI Security Selection Index was the top-performing strategy group for the month, gaining 1.75%. For the year, long/short equity managers are outperforming the composite hedge fund index with returns tallying 2.61% through September. Short-bias managers in particular underperformed last month with a negative return of 1.10%.

The MSCI Directional Trading Index negated its downward performance trend of the last five months and posted a gain of 1.25% in September. Systematic trading funds led the pack, according to MSCI officials. Still, directional trading strategies are in negative territory year-to-date, with a loss of 2.84% through Sept. 30.

The MSCI Specialist Credit Index and the MSCI Multi-Process Group Index each had gains last month of 0.86% and 1.08%, respectively. The MSCI Relative Value Index, which groups strategies focused on spread relationships between pricing components of financial assets or commodities, lost 0.04% in September. Still, the relative value benchmark is up 1.55% year-to-date.