LONDON: Hedge fund returns rose in June as stock pickers gained 4% and fundamental equity funds posted an 18.4% quarterly return, Goldman Sachs data showed.
The Goldman Sachs client note, seen by Reuters on Thursday, said fundamental stockpickers recorded their strongest quarterly performance in the bank’s records.
Those funds returned 17.4% year-to-date, according to the note dated Wednesday. Goldman said bigger bets, healthcare positioning and trades with established momentum helped drive gains.
The bank said losses came from volatile June markets, from trading in a surging South Korean market, and from short bets that moved against funds.
The US SOX chip index posted its best quarter on record, while June marked the worst month for the Magnificent Seven.
The Round Hill Magnificent Seven ETF fell 9% in June, its biggest monthly drop in more than a year.
Systematic hedge funds that use market models gained 1.1% in June after losses near month-end, Goldman said. The same group returned 11.3% for the year to date.
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Winton, an $18 billion systematic hedge fund, said losses stemmed from volatile trading in large US companies and Chinese firms, and from short positions in long-dated US Treasuries.
Trend followers and commodity trading advisers made money in the Canadian dollar and Japanese yen, Winton said. Losses in the Australian dollar, sterling and Norwegian krone outweighed those gains.
