Small Cap Hedge Funds Give Way to Mid, Large-Cap in March

In its Hedge Fund Indices Global Summary for March, an in-depth analysis of its already released March performance report (See MSCI Hedge Fund Index Slides 0.47% in March ), MSCI said the Mid- and Large-Cap Hedge funds increased 2.8% for the year ending in March, while the small-cap funds lost 7.3% in the same period.

Meanwhile, according to the MSCI, 58% of funds and 46% of assets in the MSCI Hedge Fund Indices are in equities, while 9% of funds and 13% of assets are in fixed income, and 23% of funds and 28% of assets hold a number of different assets. Among the equity funds, 32% of funds and 42% of assets are focused on large- and mid-cap, 14% of funds and 12% of assets are oriented toward mid- and small-cap, 6% of funds and 5% of assets are in small cap, and 47% of funds and 42% of assets don’t have a capitalization orientation.  

In terms of geographic focus, MSCI said its index is dominated by funds where the holdings are concentrated in North America and others that hold assets from several different regions. The strongest performers in the year ending March 30 came from funds with developed markets holdings, which gained 16.9% in the last 12 months and 11.4% annually over the past three years. European-focused funds were up by 10.6% over the last year and 3.5% annually over three years. North American-focused funds – 52% of the funds in the index – lost 1.1% over the last year. Funds domiciled offshore turned in a 5.6% and 1.2% annual return over one and three years. Fixed income funds were up 8.6% in the last year.