Van Global Hedge Fund Index Ends August With 1.7% Gain

Year-to-date 2003, the Index has returned 10.8% net of fees. Excluding the performance of funds of funds, the Index turned in a 1.8% August net and 11.6% net year to date.

Meanwhile, domestic domiciled hedge funds and those offshore ran neck in neck with both the Van US Hedge Fund Index and the Van Offshore Hedge Fund Index throwing back 1.7% net gains in August. US funds were better off since January 1 however, as the US Index has returned 11.7% net versus 10.3% net for the Offshore Index year to date.

The best performing Global Index strategies for August were Emerging Markets, Aggressive Growth and Opportunistic, which turned in a 5.8% net, 3.5% net, and 3.1% net respectively, according to a news release. All three strategies have benefited from improving equity markets this year. On the other hand, Short Selling fared the worst in August, firmly in the negative column with a -3.5% net loss.

For year-to-date 2003, the best performing Global Index strategies are Emerging Markets, Aggressive Growth and Distressed Securities, which have gained 24.5% net, 20.2% net and 16.7% net , respectively. The only strategy in the red since January 1 is Short Selling at -17.7% net.

The latest preliminary figures are based on the reported returns of over 900 hedge funds, according to a news release.