Most hedge fund strategies gave above average returns in February, according to research by French business school Edhec. Emerging market he...

Most hedge fund strategies gave above average returns in February, according to research by French business school Edhec. Emerging market hedge fund strategies posted an average, estimated return of 3.44 per cent in the month based on positive stock market performance, especially among small caps, and low volatility.

Convertible artibrage on the other hand fared rather worse. The low levels of short-term interest rates in February lead to a 0.59 per cent fall in returns for convertible arbitrage funds.

Emerging market hedge fund strategies have returned 4.93 per cent so far this year, long/short equity 1.95 per cent, global macro, 1.83 per cent, event driven, 1.54 per cent, and short selling, 1.51 per cent.

In separate research, the Dow Jones hedge fund benchmark shows that event driven strategies have the highest year to date return of 1.4 per cent, with merger arbitrage showing 1.1 per cent return and distressed securities 0.6 per cent. The benchmark derives from a universe of 40 managers and shows that the most successful strategy over the last 52 weeks has been distressed securities with a 13.6 per cent rise.