Absolute Asset Management's Macro Diversified Fund (USD) returned -2.37% in November, bringing their YTD performance to -24.62%. This compares favourably to the MSCI's YTD return of -43.81%.

During November Absolute observed that most markets remained weak, but are optimistic that opportunities will present themselves in 2009. Unlike other hedge fund managers Absolute has not been affected by mass redemptions, so has been able to maintain liquidity in the fund while at the same time pursuing a macro diversified strategy.

Absolute's other funds experienced mixed results in November. Their Asian REIT Property Fund was down -3.48%, while their Trading 1 Fund, which trades in the FX market, was up +0.76%.

TechInvests’ flagship Intercept Capital fund lost just 0.05% in November, protecting almost all of the 14.9% it has gained over the past 12 months. Since inception in March 2004 the fund has generated an annualised post-fee return of 10.1% which compares favourably with its benchmark, the UBS Australia Bank Bill Index, which has generated an annualised return of 6.4% over the same period.

At the end of November the fund was invested in 32 companies the manager considers undervalued and held short positions in 13 companies the manager believes are overvalued. The manager reports that during the month short positions generally contributed positive returns while most long investments detracted from the result.

Everest Babcock & Brown's Alternative Investment Trust returned -7.86% in November, bringing its YTD performance to -35.53%, compared to the benchmark HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index YTD return of -22.22%.

This result follows on from heavy losses in the fund in October, and was a result of poor performance across all strategies. In their monthly report the managers note the ongoing dislocation of equity and credit markets as a key factor in the fund's performance. They also discuss the impact of redemptions in a number of their underlying funds, and how have been actively managing the risks to the fund on this issue.

Agora's Absolute Return Fund was down -3.19% in November, compared to the S&P/ASX 200's return of -6.20% in the same period. This result brings the fund's YTD performance to -14.05%.

Agora is expecting economic indicators to remain negative into 2009, and is thus continuing to be conservative in its approach, i.e. they will continue to operate with a low level of exposure to the equity market. Agora's leveraged Absolute Return Fund returned -4.02% in November, and is down -12.98% YTD.

Pengana’s Global Small Companies Solution fund lost 1.7% in November and has fallen 34.2% over the last three months. The fund benchmark is an equally weighted combination of returns available from each of the three geographic regions that it invests in: North America, Europe and Asia. The fund outperformed this measure by 6% in November but has underperformed by 1.2% over the three months.

The manager believes that small companies are now attractively priced with good potential in the Asian region. Research conducted by Pengana shows that values have fallen sharply while earnings remain relatively healthy so the manager will be looking to add another Asian small cap specialist to its team over coming months.

Antipodean Capital's Volatility Arbitrage Strategy returned +3.82% for November, bringing their YTD performance to +13.68% and their annualised return since inception (December 2007) to +24.54%.

This result was attributed to positive returns in the fund's equity and FX derivatives strategies. Antipodean's CTA Strategy also posted a positive result for November (+1.21%), while their $A Currency Strategy returned a small loss of -0.11%.

SHC's Ailsa Fund reported a gain of +2.53% in November, bringing its YTD return to -5.13%.

The 3 month return on the Ailsa Fund was -2.1%, compared to the S&P/ASX200, which returned -26.7% over the same period. SHC retains a positive view on global equity markets in 2009, although the real economy may still have some way to fall.

Attunga Capital's managed futures and multi-strategy funds reported both positive and negative returns for November.

Attunga's managed futures funds, the Enviro Opportunities Fund (EOF) and the Power & Enviro (Offshore) Fund (PEOF), reported returns of -1.04% and -1.10% respectively for November, while their multi-strategy Agricultural Trading Fund (ATF) returned +1.29%. Positive performance in the ATF was attributed to calendar spreads in soybean oil, corn and soybeans, which offset losses on market spreads in wheat markets. The EOF and PEOF, which are both mainly invested in Australian electricity assets, are looking ahead to the release of the Australian Government's emission trading scheme proposal in mid December, which will impact their power and emission markets.

Tactical Global Management (TGA)'s GTAA AUD Fund was up +4.50% for November, bringing their YTD performance to -0.38%.

TGM attributed this result to their investment strategies in global equities (long European and UK, short US and Australian) and fixed interest (long US, short Japanese), while at the same time having no exposures in global currencies or at broad asset-class levels.

MM&E Capital Takeover Target Fund was down 7.80% during November bringing the year-to-date cumulative performance to a loss of 31.66%.

The Manager commented: "November was another difficult month for equity markets, and the Fund lost value in line with the performance of the benchmark ASX 300 Index. Stop losses were applied throughout the month, with positions falling 20% from entry price being automatically exited."

The Fund uses an event driven strategy where medium term (6-24 months) positions are taken in ASX listed stocks that meet the internal selection criteria.