HONG KONG (HedgeWorld.com)–Japanese long/short equity fund performance remains dismal, dragging down the performance of pan-Asian hedge fund indexes.
According to the Bank of Bermuda AsiaHedge index, Asian hedge funds in their composite lost 0.59% last month, but the index is still up 2.88% for the year. The index excluding Japanese funds was down only 0.41%, but including Japan the composite posts a negative 1.17% return for July.
For the year through the end of July, Asian indexes including Japanese equity strategies are all on the decline. Meanwhile, Australian funds have had a positive month with returns of 1.77%. And for the year, officials estimate that Australian long/short equity funds total 7.44% to date.
The AsiaHedge Japan Long/Short Equity was the worst-performing strategy with a loss of 1.56% in July. Still the sub index outperformed its benchmark by 4.5% in July. For the year, the Japan long/short strategy is up 7.19%, which is a much healthier performance than its counterparts in other indexes that also are struggling (see ).
