- Advertisement -
- Advertisement -

Nordic Equity Hedge Funds Escape Turmoil

- Advertisement -

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic equity hedge funds, as measured by the NHX Equities Index, fell an estimated 0.9 percent in February (91 percent reported), as stock markets around the world feared that central banks would accelerate the pace of interest rate hikes. The NHX Equities Index is down 0.6 percent in the first two months of 2018.

Nordic Equity Hedge Funds Against Local and International Indices

The equities-focused members of the NHX Composite outperformed both local and global stock market indices in February, with Nordic equity markets, as measured by the VINX, falling 1.2 percent in Euro terms. Global equity markets fell 2.0 percent in Euro terms and Eurozone equities fell a more severe 3.8 percent. North American equities, meanwhile, declined 3.6 percent in U.S. dollar terms and 1.8 percent in Euro terms. Equity markets around the world entered a period of turmoil in early February, reflecting investor fears about rising inflation and a resulting acceleration in the pace of interest rate hikes after the release of a better-than-anticipated U.S. jobs report.

Global equity-focused hedge funds did not fare much better than their Nordic peers in February, with the Eurekahedge Long Short Equities Hedge Fund Index falling 1.2 percent (43 percent reported as of March 13). The Barclay Equity Long/Short Index was down 0.7 percent, with a total of 240 funds having reported February figures.

Best and Worst Performing Nordic Equity Hedge Funds

Approximately 40 percent of all NHX Equities members ended February in the green. AAM Absolute Return Fund, a specialised long/short hedge fund investing in equity securities of global energy and natural resources companies, comes out on top. The Oslo-based fund returned 3.7 percent last month, bringing the year-to-date performance to 7.2 percent.

Equities-focused market-neutral hedge fund Zmart Alfa and value-oriented HCP Focus Fund gained 2.0 percent and 1.7 percent (up 1.1 percent and 7.3 percent YTD), respectively. Taiga Fund, a long-biased value-oriented fund, advanced 1.5 percent in February, recouping some of the losses incurred in January (down 0.9 percent YTD).

The list of equity hedge funds hit hard by skyrocketing stock market volatility was large and included a variety of sub-strategies. After having enjoyed two relatively strong years of performance (up 6.3 percent in 2017 and 18.9 percent in 2016), DNB ECO Absolute Return is not enjoying a great start to 2018. The market-neutral fund focusing on renewable energy companies was down 5.3 percent in February (down 5.3 percent YTD). HCP Quant, Inside Hedge, Origo Quest 1, Atlant Sharp Europe, and Accendo Capital all recorded losses of more than 4 percent last month.

*Performance figures for February not reported.

 

Picture © Minerva-Studio – Shutterstock.com

Subscribe to HedgeBrev, HedgeNordic’s weekly newsletter, and never miss the latest news!

Our newsletter is sent once a week, every Friday.

Eugeniu Guzun
Eugeniu Guzun
Eugeniu Guzun serves as a data analyst responsible for maintaining and gatekeeping the Nordic Hedge Index, and as a journalist covering the Nordic hedge fund industry for HedgeNordic. Eugeniu completed his Master’s degree at the Stockholm School of Economics in 2018. Write to Eugeniu Guzun at eugene@hedgenordic.com

Latest Articles

First Non-Swedish Family Office Investment for Protean Small Cap

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – About one year after the successful launch of their long/short equity fund Protean Select, Pontus Dackmo and Carl Gustafsson introduced a...

Atlant Högräntefond Leads Peers on Third Anniversary

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Around mid-March 2021, Swedish hedge fund boutique Atlant Fonder launched a UCITS-structured fixed-income fund investing in Nordic corporate bonds, drawing from...

Rhenman Welcomes Brummer & Partners Sales Veteran

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – After close to 18 years as an institutional sales professional at Brummer & Partners, Tom Josephson is set to join healthcare-focused...

Untapped Potential in Symmetry’s Small-Cap Portfolio

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Small-cap-focused hedge fund Symmetry Invest has achieved an annualized return of around 20 percent over the past five years and over...

Navigating Asia-Pacific’s Transition to Sustainable Growth

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Emerging markets in the Asia-Pacific region, such as China, India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam, have experienced significant economic expansion...

The Performance of US Equities in Election Years Over the Last Century

By Daniel Ung, Kartik Chawla, and Jędrzej Miklaszewski – SPDR: The 2024 US presidential election is on the horizon, and investors are keen to...

Allocator Interviews

Latest Articles

In-Depth: Emerging Markets

Voices

Request for Proposal

- Advertisement -