Hedge funds have delivered performance of 3.7 per cent since the start of January, propelled by a robust set of gains in November partly because of sharp gains by the dollar and falls in the oil price, according to industry figures.

Hedge funds have delivered performance of 3.7 per cent since the start of January, propelled by a robust set of gains in November partly because of sharp gains by the dollar and falls in the oil price, according to industry figures.

Macro hedge funds and commodity trading advisor strategies that follow trends benefited from some large shifts in markets, according to Chicago, IL-headquartered Hedge Fund Research.

The HFRI Macro Index gained by 2.6 per cent in November, powered by a gain of 4.6 per cent for the HFRI Macro: systematic diversified/CTA Index; both the macro and CTA Index gains were the strongest since December 2010.

The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index gained by 1.2 per cent for the month, reversing a two-month decline for the broad-based Index, bringing year-to-date performance through November to 3.7 per cent. All four main strategy areas tracked by HFR posted gains for the month.

Strong performance in macro and CTA strategies was driven by persistent and powerful trends across commodity, currency, equity and fixed income markets. Oil fell more than 17 per cent in November, losing over 10 per cent in the final trading day of the month, driven by a combination of moderating global demand and, specifically, the announcement that OPEC would maintain, rather than reduce, current output targets; oil has declined nearly 33 per cent for 2014.

In addition to participating in the large move in oil, macro hedge funds also posted gains across currency positions, as the US dollar saw sharp gains against the Japanese yen, sterling and oil-sensitive currencies, including the Russian rouble and Brazilian Real.

Event-driven equities recovered from a two-month period of volatility with the announcements of large transactions, totaling greater than $100 billion in the same day, lifting the HFRI event driven index to a gain of 1.2 per cent for the month.

Fixed income-based relative value arbitrage strategies also posted gains for the month, with the HFRI Relative Value Arbitrage Index up 0.3 per cent, bringing the YTD gain to 4.5 per cent.