Macro strategies attract increased interest

Good performance during the global financial crisis has resulted in increased interest in managed futures and directional macro products, according to a review released by Standard & Poor's (S&P).

The S&P alternatives-futures sector review, which has analysed 14 headline products, included commodity futures, commodity trading adviser/managed futures and global macro funds.

S&P analyst Michael Armitage has noted higher inflows both locally and globally into managed futures and directional macro strategies.

These strategies have a low correlation with equity markets during a sell off, making a strong case to include them in a portfolio for diversification or risk management reason, Armitage said. 

The strong performance is not based on recent commodities performance - major commodities indices including the UBS commodities index recorded negative results for the quarter, he added.

Armitage said that, because of the strength in performance for these strategies in volatile and negative equity periods, S&P expects continued uptake in consultant and adviser asset-allocation models for these strategies.

"Managed futures and global macro directional strategies highlighted their alternative return profile for investors with positive performance in the third quarter against the S&P/ASX 300 Accumulation Index result of 12 per cent," he added.

Two funds have received a five-star rating in their peer groups: BlackRock Asset Allocation Alpha Fund and Winton Global Alpha Fund.