The Excalibur Absolute Return Fund was up +0.87% in March, the fourth consecutive month the Fund has posted a positive return. The largest loss posted by the Fund in the last 12 months was -0.94% in November 2008.

The Fund's 2009 return is +3.75%, following on from a 2008 return of +12.23%, with the largest monthly gain of +3.74% in December. The Fund trades AUD/JPY currency pairs using a 50/50 systematic/discretionary trading approach, and has a track record since July 2006.

The Wingate Global Equity Income Fund posted a gain of +2.91% in March on the back market rebounds late in the month. The Fund outperformed its benchmark, the MSCI World (ex Aust) $A Net Dividends Reinvested Index by +4.31%.

The Fund, which sells put options on shares to generate income and provide a buffer against falls in share prices, was protected in part against lower equity prices in the first quarter of 2009 by a high level of income on derivatives. The Fund continued to invest in sectors that are not dependent on positive expectations for the future or excessively reliant on credit markets, such as consumer goods. As a result the Fund was underweight in financials in March (9% of the portfolio) due to the uncertainty surrounding the near future for financial institutions. Although there are no immediate signs of recovery in global markets, the manager believes there are still undervalued companies around and remains confident in investing in well capitalised firms.

The Headland Global Diversified Fund lost -3.90% in March, due mainly to the strong market rallies during the month.

Although the manager acknowledged that the positive performance of equity and commodity markets in March hurt the Fund's overall return, they still believe that a full recovery will take some time to achieve. As a result the Fund's asset allocation remained unchanged.

The announcement of quantitative easing procedures by central banks around the world offset the need for greater issuance to pay for government spending, resulting in mixed returns in bond markets. Currencies also rallied against the US dollar after it was announced the US was printing more money. As the Fund has an overweight position in bonds as well as positions in FX markets (CAD against USD), both sectors produces losses for the Fund. The most significant loss however came from commodities, where the Fund gave up recent gains as markets rallied from lows earlier in the year.

The Prime Value Imputation Fund outperformed the S&P/ASX300 Accumulation Index by 0.5% in March, gaining +8.6% during the month.

During the month the Fund was overweight in industrial stocks and underweight in health care and telecom sectors, which contributed positively to the overall result. Individual stock positions that performed strongly included Monadelphous, Westpac and NAB. Telstra and Caltex were negative influences. The Fund's ongoing cash position held back performance in a month of strong market rallies.

Prime Value's Growth Fund also performed well in March, up +6.1%. The Fund suffered from an underweight position in financial stocks, as well as the Fund's cash holding.

The TechInvest Intercept Capital Fund produced a positive return of +1.7% in March on the back of global equity market rallies, and is now up +2.3% in 2009.

Although still underinvested, the Fund's long positions drove the March result. FTI Consulting was a main contributor to performance, as was Apple and Salesforce.com. Short positions in Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Electronic Arts partially offset these gains. The Fund ended the month weighted towards the wireless & internet, software & services and biotechnology sectors, with small net positive positions in hardware & equipment, medical devices, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals.

The Antares Lodestar Absolute Return Trust posted its first positive month of performance of 2009 in March, gaining +3.63%.

The result was led by very strong returns in positions in Lend Lease, Clough Limited and Origin Energy. Lend Lease rebounded from its capital raising in February, while Clough benefited from a re-rating due to solid returns, and Origin rose on expectations that it would take a greater stake in the Otway gas project. The main negative influences on the March result were Telstra, due to events surrounding the NBN proposal, and Westfield Group.

The Blue Sky World Fund, which ranked third in AFM's February performance review with a gain of +6.25%, posted another impressive performance in March, up +5.90%. The 2009 return for the Fund now stands at +9.49%.

Strong performances in Asia Pacific equities (+3.14%) and FX (+2.01%) drove the Fund's March result, although a small loss on North American equities (-0.31%) dragged performance down. Asian Pacific equities have been the strongest sector for the Fund in 2009, up +8.95%. This is particularly notable given the volatile nature of global equity markets in recent months.

The Apeiron Global Macro Fund gained +1.16% in March, after a loss of -0.95% in February. The 2009 return for the Fund now stands at +4.02%.

Key events in March included quantitative easing strategies by central banks in the USA, UK and Japan, improving sentiment in global commodities markets and ongoing negative data coming out of Japan.The Fund ended March long gold, AUD, wheat, Nikkei and USD/JPY and short gilts and Japanese government bonds.

Blue Fin Capital's Managed FX Account was down -1.45% in March after a negative February, reducing its 2009 return to +0.57%. The Blue Fin Managed Commodities Account lost -1.07% for March, and is down -2.38% in 2009.

Despite this result the Managed FX Account was still outperforming both its benchmarks - the CSFB Managed Futures Index and the Barclays Currency Index - to the end of February. The loss for March for the Managed Commodities Account was attributed to losses in energy, metals and soft commodities, which offset gains in grains.

The Bennelong Long Short Equity Fund lost -1.72% in March after posting strong gains in January and February. The 2009 return for the Fund now stands at +12.06%.

Like many equity based funds that employ short selling, the Fund suffered from the strong rally in global equity markets in March. As the Fund has been defensively positioned in recent months due to economic uncertainty, and the rally focused on buying back undersold/value sectors (financials and cyclical stocks) at the expense of defensive stocks, the Fund's return suffered accordingly. The manager however believes it is not yet clear that economic conditions will continue to improve, so will keep the Fund's portfolio defensive in the short term.

The biggest positive contributors to March's result were long Ansell/short Resmed and long Onesteel/short Bluescope spreads, the biggest losses coming from long Incitec/short Orica and long JB Hi-Fi/short Harvey Norman.