GLOBAL hedge funds posted gains of 2.2 per cent in June, as artificial intelligence (AI) related stocks surged and the banking crisis eased, data provider HFR said on Monday (Jul 10).

In the first half of the year, hedge funds added 3.45 per cent to their investors.

“Hedge funds surged in June, led by growth equity exposures and, specifically, artificial intelligence. While gains were driven by these dynamic exposures, industry performance was strong across-the-board,” said Kenneth J Heinz, president of HFR.

Equity hedge funds, which bet stocks will fall or rise, posted the best performance among all four categories tracked by HFR, both in June and in the year, with gains of 2.94 per cent and 5.55 per cent, respectively.

Still, equity hedge funds lagged the S&P 500 index, which soared 16.9 per cent in the first half of 2023.

Macro hedge funds ended June down 0.47 per cent in the year, as they were able to erase some losses earlier in the year last month, up 1.47 per cent. Hedge funds that bet on economic trends had a challenging beginning of the year as they were hard hit by the banking crisis in March.

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Event-driven hedge funds, which include shareholder activism and those betting on M&As, rose 2.99 per cent in the first half of the year and 2.78 per cent in June.

Relative value strategies, which trade asset price dispersion, ended June up 2.66 per cent in the year and 0.9 per cent in the month. REUTERS