'Alternatives Alternatives' investment funds finished the month of July with strong gains, according to a first estimation based on 712 single- and multi-manager funds currently listed in 25 categories in the Opalesque Solutions A SQUARE Fund Database (Source)

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The Opalesque A SQUARE Index advanced* 2.18% last month and 2.05% so far in 2012. Estimates for June and May were corrected to -0.49% and -1.41%, respectively. The A SQUARE Funds of Funds Index gained 1.27%, but is still down 1.56% in 2012.

- Last month's top performers were agriculture (+4.27%) and multi-asset commodity strategies (+3.37%), followed by funds specializing in energy markets (+2.68%), real estate (+1.97%) and infrastructure (+1.25%).

- Negative results were posted by metals traders (-1.11%), collectibles funds (-1.02%) and environmental investment strategies (-0.90%).

- Year-to-date, the ranking is led by agriculture (+9.82%), real estate (+8.42%) and infrastructure (+7.61%) funds. Credit and trade finance strategies performed well too, with 2012 results of +5.85% and +4.73% respectively.

A SQUARE database weighting by asset classes

Over the last twelve months, the A SQUARE Index had 8 negative and 4 positive months, resulting in a compounded loss of 4.72%. The A SQUARE Funds of Funds Index lost 4.21% in the same period.

Opalesque's A SQUARE indices performed similar to the stock market, which lost 4.23% since August 2011. Hedge funds represented by the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index did slightly better, with a 12-month loss of 2.32%.

12-month equity market correlation of A SQUARE funds was 72%, compared the 91% for the Eurekahedge Hedge Fund Index. Opalesque calculated stock market betas of 20% and 26% for the two indices.

* Estimated numbers of the last 3 months are based on a calculation conducted on the 27th of the actual month. Earlier results are locked.