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August 8, 2006
Hedge funds lose a smidgen in July
The average hedge fund ended July nearly where it started, posting a tiny loss during a month marked by more stock market price swings, according to data released on Monday.
The Barclay Hedge Fund Index, compiled by the Barclay Trading Group in Fairfield, Iowa, shows these lightly regulated investment pools slipping 0.07 percent in July after losing 0.30 percent in June.
In May, the average hedge fund lost 1.82 percent, the group said.
Nine out of 18 hedge fund indexes lost money last month, with funds that specialize in technology declining the most, Barclays's first estimates of last month's data show.
"Once again we are seeing equity-based directional strategies spilling most of the red ink," Sol Waksman, Barclay's president and founder said in a statement.
The Technology Index dropped 1.39 percent while the global macro index -- where funds bet on interest rates, currency movements and often commodities -- lost 1.36 percent.
Last month stock market prices zoomed both higher and lower and some particularly prominent companies, including online retailer Amazon and computer maker Dell suffered heavy losses.
In a familiar pattern, funds that bet the stock market would decline, fared the best last month with so-called short sellers gaining 2.84 percent.
The Barclay numbers are among the first to show how the $1.2 trillion hedge fund industry fared in July. Performance data from other groups, including industry benchmark Hedge Fund Research, are expected in the next days.
-Reuters-
Posted by su at August 8, 2006 2:47 PM