Month in Review – February 2019

Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic hedge funds continued to recoup 2018 losses by posting an average gain of one percent in February (88 percent reported). After experiencing a decline of 3.6 percent last year, the Nordic Hedge Index (NHX) advanced 2.6 percent year-to-date through the end of February.

All five strategy categories in the NHX posted gains for February, with equity-oriented hedge funds leading the gains for a second consecutive month. Equity hedge funds, as expressed by the NHX Equities, gained 1.4 percent last month, extending year-to-date gains to 4.4 percent. Fixed-income and multi-strategy hedge funds were up 0.9 percent on average. Nordic CTA funds posted mixed results for February due to a lack of price trends, yet managed to advance 0.3 percent on average. Funds of hedge funds eked out a 0.1 percent gain last month.

The dispersion between February’s best and worst performing members of the Nordic Hedge Index (NHX) was considerably lower compared to the previous two months. In February, the top 20 percent of hedge funds gained 3.8 percent on average, whereas the bottom 20 percent lost 1.4 percent on average. In the prior month, the top 20 percent was up eight percent on average and the bottom 20 percent lost 2.9 percent. The month of December was a mirror image of January, as the top 20 percent was up only two percent while the bottom 20 percent lost seven percent. More than two in every three members of the NHX with reported February figures in our database made money last month.

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Equity-focused hedge funds dominated last month’s leaderboard, with small-cap-focused long/short equity fund Alcur Select topping the table. The fund booked an 8.6 percent return for February, bringing its year-to-date gains to 15.9 percent. HCP Focus, currently this year’s best-performing member of the NHX with a 25.4 percent return, advanced 7.7 percent last month. Estlander & Partners Alpha Trend II, a higher leverage version of Estlander’s flagship systematic medium-term trend-following strategy, advanced 6.8 percent in February, trimming year-to-date losses to 3.6 percent. Taiga Fund and Rhenman Global Opportunities L/S both gained 5.5 percent last month.

The Month in Review can be downloaded below: