Hedge Funds Shed 0.21% In April (Finalternatives)
Hedge funds fell for the second month in a row in April, as long/short equity strategies failed once again to keep up with the broader markets. The Credit Suisse Hedge Fund Index fell 0.21% last month, cutting its year-to-date gain to 0.73%. By contrast, the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index rose 0.62% on the month and is up 1.93% on the year. Long/short equity funds suffered the heaviest losses in April, dropping 1.03% (up 0.54% year-to-date). Equity market neutral funds fell 0.7% (down 0.95% YTD), emerging markets funds 0.58% (down 2.59% YTD), multi-strategy funds 0.43% (up 1.52% YTD) and event-driven multi-strategy funds 0.14% (up 2.69% YTD).
Stock market response to election results was disappointing: Samir Arora (LiveMint)
After an initial surge, when the benchmark Sensex crossed 25,000 points, the Indian markets closed marginally higher despite the National Democratic Alliance (NDA)-led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) returning to power after 10 years with a massive majority. Narendra Modi, who is set to be India’s next Prime Minister, is widely perceived to be business-friendly. Samir Arora, founder and fund manager of Singapore-based hedge fund firm Helios Capital, said in an interview that this showed the short-term nature of the Indian market, which should nevertheless gain as foreign allocations to the country increase in the next 9-12 months.
U.S. prosecutors drop two more charges against Rajaratnam’s brother (Reuters)
U.S. prosecutors have dropped two insider trading-related charges against former Galleon Group hedge fund portfolio manager Rengan Rajaratnam, the second time in two weeks the government has whittled down its case against him. In a new indictment made public on Friday, prosecutors eliminated two securities fraud charges against Rajaratnam, but he is expected to go to trial on other criminal charges. Rajaratnam is the younger brother of Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam, who is serving an 11-year prison sentence for his 2011 conviction for insider trading.
Jim Rogers: Gold Below $1,000 Would Represent Buying Opportunity (MoneyNews)
Star investor Jim Rogers, chairman of Rogers Holdings, says gold will present a buying opportunity sometime in the next two years. The precious metal has advanced 8 percent so far this year. But it has stalled around $1,300 an ounce since early April. June gold futures settled at $1,293.60 Thursday, down $12.30 from Wednesday. “I’m not buying gold at the moment,” Rogers tells Yahoo. “But if the opportunity comes along, and it will in the next year or two, I will buy more.”
Investor Carl Icahn Buys Another 2.8 Million Apple Shares (iPhoneFAQ)
Billionaire hedge fund trader Carl Icahn has increased his holdings in Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) by 2.8 million shares – about $1.65 billion, according to a Security and Exchanges Commission filing. The move brings his stake in the company up to a total of 7.5 million shares which, as of this writing, is worth just under $4.5 billion. Icahn has been quite vocal recently about what Apple should be doing, namely buying back shares. In January he purchased $500 million worth of shares and tweeted, “Just bought $500 mln more AAPL shares.
Aurigen Capital Reduces Share Price Range for its Canadian IPO (BusinessWeek)
Aurigen Capital Ltd., the reinsurer backed by billionaire George Soros, reduced the share price range for its Canadian initial public offering. The Hamilton, Bermuda-based reinsurer aims to sell shares for C$9.50 to C$10.50 each in its offering, according to an amended filing to Canadian regulators today. That’s down from its initial plan to offer stock for C$13 to C$15 each. Aurigen now plans to raise C$200 million ($184 million) from the sale and certain existing investors will buy about C$50 million of the offering. The company’s initial plan last month was to raise C$250 million through the Toronto IPO.
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