Asian managers beat peers as hedge funds up 8% in 2013

Here's what boosted this growth.

According to a report, hedge funds delivered their fourth consecutive month of positive returns as global markets ended the year on a strong note of optimism. The Eurekahedge January Index Flash noted that hedge funds climbed 8.00% last year.

The Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index was up 0.99% during the month. The MSCI World Index gained 1.67% in the month of December.

Here's more:

Total assets in the hedge fund industry rose to US$2.01 trillion, the highest level on record since June 2008 when global AUM peaked at US$1.95 trillion. Net asset flows in 2013 stood at US$146.1 billion, with net allocations to North American managers standing at US$73.6 billion in year-to-date.

European fund managers were up 8.79% in 2013 with net asset inflows for the year standing at US$62.4 billion - the highest level on record.

Asia ex-Japan hedge funds outperformed underlying markets and were up 13.47% in 2013 with overall assets under management growing by US19.1 billion during the past year.

Greater China focused hedge funds outperformed the Hang Seng Index by more than 16% in 2013 Latin America focused managers have outperformed the MSCI EM Latin America Index by more than 9% in 2013. Distressed debt investing remained the best performing strategy in 2013, up 16.76% for the year, followed by long/short equities which saw gains of 14.87%.

Japanese hedge funds comprehensively outperformed all regional mandates, up 26.62% in 2013. In 2013, almost 2,750 funds in the Eurekahedge database achieved returns greater than 10% - of which over 1,000 were up more than 20% for the year.