Asia-Pacific’s hedge fund assets under management (AuM) remained almost flat during December after fund outflows of just -0.2% and performance of -0.3% resulted in a total net loss of 0.5%.
Global equity managers suffered on the back of worldwide market woes during December. Analysts pointed to intensifying political drama including the ongoing US-China trade conflict, stalling Brexit talks, and the US government shutdown.
Managers of global equity strategies also lost considerable capital during the month. A performance downturn of 3.2%, coupled with fund outflows of 4.1% took the total asset loss to 7.3%.
In contrast, Asian managers were able to escape relatively unscathed during December. One argument is that the region bore the brunt of a sell-off earlier this year and so the downside for Asian equities is likely to be protected by relatively low valuations.
Fund flows were strongest for hedge funds running Asia Fixed Income, Asia ex-Japan and China-focused long/short equity strategies, with capital commitment figures for December of 3.5% and 2.5% each for the latter two.
Positive performance for pan-regional funds as a whole meant that overall assets increased by 4.6% during December. Meanwhile, China funds provided returns in the red, leaving them only 1.4% better off than at the end of November.
At the other end of the spectrum, macro hedge fund managers fared worst with investors pulling out of funds during December which wiped off 7.2% off the strategy’s overall AuM. Added to that negative performance of more than 2% meant that total asset outflows nearly reached 10%.
Australia fund managers also suffered significant outflows at the end of last year. Fund flows were down 3.8% and performance was down 2.8%, resulting in a total AuM loss of 6.6%
Asset flows remain subdued during December on AsiaHedge.