Asia’s Lame Hedges Can’t Match GDP Growth

The world’s fastest economic growth isn’t helping Asia’s hedge funds. The Eurekahedge Asian index tracking 395 hedge funds returned 1.6 percent this year through August, the worst performer among regions and about half the 3.2 percent gain by the global benchmark, Bloomberg says.

Funds have been hampered by a concentration on Asian equities, which have been driven more by Europe’s debt crisis and China’s slowdown than by company fundamentals such as earnings. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index (MXAP) has climbed 8.2 percent in 2012, compared with the 13 percent gain by the MSCI World Index.

“Most Asian funds have been focused on the equity space and that hasn’t done well,” said Dhawal Mehta, head of India equity investments at Reliance Asset Management (Singapore) Pte. “In the U.S. and Europe, you have more variety in terms of the kind of funds....”

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