VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Hedge funds have increased their bullish gold bets amid predictions given by analysts that the price of the bullion will continue to go down this year, Bloomberg reported.

Business news site ValueWalk pointed out in its report that several top players on HSBC Holdings plc's list of best performing hedge funds for 2013 were found to have made value equity plays.

Indices of S&P Dow Jones indicated that exchange-traded funds might surpass hedge funds in terms of being attractive investments. Analysts earlier argued that the attractiveness of the securities were due to ETFs' cheap prices.

Data released by research firm and data provider Eurekahedge revealed that hedge funds worldwide posted record gains not seen since 2007, said a Business Insider report.

While US and foreign banks do away with risky investments like municipal bonds, hedge funds had taken advantage with the loss of a competitor and increased their positions in such assets, a Barron's report said.

Bloomberg Businessweek reported that Japanese hedge funds posted record returns this year as investors bet that Abenomics will bring the world's third-largest economy back on its feet.

For hedge funds that made money this year there was only one strategy that really mattered - latching onto the stockmarket rally.

Mizuho Financial Group Inc were said to be focusing on hedge funds as its potential buyers of corporate bonds at the height of the securities trading at below face values, Bloomberg said in its report.

Despite the discount of costs to run hedge funds in the Asian-Pacific region, Citigroup Inc's recent survey revealed that not all hedge funds in the region are successes in expanding its assets and achieving profitability.

Bloomberg columnist and money manager Barry Ritholtz said in his column on Bloomberg that the hedge fund industry is saturated with too many funds that are performing fairly and charge high fees in return for their services.

Sources disclosed to Reuters that billionaire hedge-fund manager John Paulson's strategies adopted this year for Paulson & Co saw gains in his credit, merger and Recovery funds.

Critics of the new rules requiring short-sellers to report their positions said the European Union's requirements had not made the hedge fund industry more competitive.

Recent data revealed that performance of hedge funds in the US this year was poor in comparison to the US stocks index despite massive fees demanded by money managers from its clients.

The increasing number of new hedge funds by global banks and asset managers in Asia threatened the business of smaller firms who had opened their independent firms just after the 2008 financial crisis.

A report published on Reuters said investors continue to pour in lots of money in hedge funds as they view the investment as a necessary yet expensive part in their portfolios.