Emerging-market assets held by hedge funds rose to a fresh high in the second quarter in spite of market headwinds, according to an industry report out Thursday.
Hedge funds held a record $239.3 billion, according to the HFR Emerging Markets Hedge Fund Industry Report. That’s up $5.3 billion compared to the first quarter of this year.
Performance was strong, as well: the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index, the leading benchmark of global hedge fund performance covering all strategies and regions, gained 7.8% in the year through July. That was the strongest start to a calendar year since 2009. The HFRI Emerging Markets (Total) Index gained 8.6% in that time. That lags the performance of the S&P SPX, +0.07% which gained about 18% in that period.
Read: Hedge-fund assets hit a new record high in the first half
The best strategy index during this period was HFRI’s EM: Russia/Eastern Europe Index, which jumped 15.9% through July.
That’s happening even as risks to emerging markets remain elevated, HFRI noted in a release: “the Chinese Renminbi fell, the US lowered interest rates, and global economic growth turned mixed across both emerging and developed markets.”
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