Stockholm (HedgeNordic) – Nordic hedge funds recovered in October after a difficult end to the third quarter, with the industry booking an average gain of 1.5 percent last month (85 percent reported). The gains trimmed the Nordic hedge fund industry’s year-to-date losses to 7.0 percent.
Month in Review – October 2022
Trend-following CTAs, this year’s top-performing strategy group in the Nordic Hedge Index, edged down 0.7 percent in October to reduce their year-to-date advance to 6.8 percent. The four other strategy categories within the Nordic Hedge Index posted gains for October, with equity hedge funds advancing 2.1 percent on average. Equity-focused funds were down 5.8 percent over the first ten months of 2022. Fixed-income funds were down 12.1 percent over the same period after gaining 2.0 percent last month. Multi-strategy funds ended the first ten months of 2022 in negative territory at 7.7 percent following an advance of 1.0 percent in October. Funds of hedge funds, meanwhile, edged down 0.3 percent so far in 2022 after a marginal gain of 0.1 percent in October.
At a country level, the Danish hedge fund industry dominated by fixed-income strategies gained the most in October after booking an average gain of 3.2 percent. Danish funds ended the first ten months of 2022 down 13.7 percent. Norwegian hedge funds gained 1.4 percent on average in October, trimming their year-to-date decline to 1.1 percent. Swedish hedge funds, which account for the largest portion of the Nordic hedge fund industry, edged up 0.8 percent last month to cut their 2022 losses to 3.6 percent. Finnish hedge funds, meanwhile, edged up 0.1 percent in October, ending the first ten months of 2022 down 9.6 percent.
The performance dispersion between last month’s best- and worst-performing members of the Nordic Hedge Index narrowed month-over-month, as top performers had a much better month in October compared to September. In October, the top 20 percent of Nordic hedge funds advanced 7.9 percent and the bottom 20 percent lost 2.2 percent, representing a top-to-bottom dispersion of 10.1 percent versus 12.1 percent in September. In September, the top 20 percent were up 3.1 percent and the bottom 20 percent were down 9.0 percent. About three in every five members of the Nordic Hedge Index with reported October figures posted gains last month.
TOP PERFORMERS IN OCTOBER
Activist investor Accendo trimmed its year-to-date decline to 10.3 percent after booking a monthly gain of 21.4 percent in October. Accendo’s gains in October were led by Swedish fiber communication solutions provider Hexatronic, which saw its share price advance a little over 40 percent in October. HP Hedge Fixed Income followed suit with a monthly advance of 14.3 percent in October, which cut the fund’s year-to-date losses to about 40 percent.
Three Forumuepleje vehicles rounded out the top five list of top performers in October, with Formuepleje Penta advancing 13.1 percent, Fokus and Epikur gaining 11.9 percent and 10.4 percent, respectively. Fixed-income-focused Fokus is down 27.2 percent over the first ten months of 2022, while multi-asset vehicles Penta and Epikur are down 31 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively.
Svelland Global Trading Fund, which does most of its trading in futures and equities related to LNG, crude oil, emissions, copper, aluminium and iron ore, advanced 9.2 percent in October to bring its 2022 performance to 37.7 percent. Tor A. Svelland’s hedge fund is among the top three best-performing Nordic hedge funds of 2022.
The Month in Review for October 2022 can be downloaded below: