(Bloomberg) As investor updates for the final month of 2018 trickle in, there’s one overriding message: December capped a year most hedge-fund managers in Asia — and their clients — would rather forget. From ill-timed bets on Chinese tech stocks to simultaneous collapses across asset classes that typically don’t move in tandem, firms that have rarely had a losing year turned in dismal report cards.
Asia-focused hedge funds declined an average 1.8 percent last month, Eurekahedge data show, extending 2018’s slide to 8.7 percent, the worst performance since 2008 and a result that made other regions’ declines look tame. Markets were rattled by weakening corporate earnings, the pace of U.S. rate hikes, slower global growth and rising trade tensions.
