Hedge funds marginally up in February

The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index recorded a gain of 0.52% for February, following a slight down month in January, bringing 2010 performance to an overall decline of -0.18%.

Asian funds underperformed -- with the regional hedge fund index falling by 0.71%. Funds in Asia are now down 2.55% in 2010.

After two months of losses, macro strategies were the best performers, with a gain of 0.75% for February, according to HFRI.

The individual fund numbers are now out for the full year of 2009 and, according to Eurekahedge, the best-performing Asian macro fund was David Tran's Primasia hedge fund, with a 61% return. Also high on the list were the GLG Emerging Market Fund, the SAC Global Elite Portfolio Fund and Hong Kong's Ocean Capital China Macro Fund, run by Will Li.

Event-driven strategies posted a loss of -0.11% for the month. Activist strategies were down, and that offset a positive contribution from merger-arbitrage and distressed strategies.

Eurekahedge says the best-performing event driven fund for 2009 was the Dynamic Power Emerging Markets Fund, which was up 75% and is run by Rohit Sehgal. Just behind it, with 71%, is the Richland Emerging Opportunities Fund, run by Alex Au in Hong Kong. In third spot is another veteran of the event-driven scene, Huy Hoang, who now lives in Singapore. His HDH Master Fund was up 69.7% and, unlike the other two, HDH had no down months last year.