Hedge funds in March concluded their best three-month period since the third quarter of 2011, according to Hedge Fund Research.
The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index posted a 0.5% gain in March and 2.4% for the first quarter.
HFR said in a statement that strong macro trends in commodity and currency markets drove first-quarter performance, and these were complemented by wide gains and positioning in equity hedge, event-driven and fixed-income-based relative value arbitrage strategies.
Macro strategies recorded the biggest industry gains for the third consecutive quarter, led by trend-following, quantitative CTA strategies.
The HFRI Macro Index was up 0.7% in March and 3.4% for the quarter. Macro funds have now posted gains in 10 of the last 12 months.
The systematic diversified/CTA sub-index gained 1.1% in March and 5.1% for first quarter, with CTAs also posting their 10th monthly gain over the past 12 months.
Equity hedge funds also ended March on a positive note, up 0.5% for the month and up 2.3% for the quarter.
Energy/basic materials exposures led March equity hedge performance, gaining 2.5%. For first quarter, the multi-strategy and technology/health care sub-strategies were the big winners, up 5.7% and 4.3%, respectively.