Aggregate hedge fund performance was down slightly at -0.17% in March, although hedge funds beat the S&P 500 for the quarter, up +1.23% for Q1 vs. the S&P’s performance of +0.96%, according to eVestment’s latest Hedge Fund Performance Report.

Hiding in the aggregate numbers was a mixed bag of performance in various hedge fund strategies, according to report author Peter Laurelli, eVestment vice president and head of research.

Managed futures funds posted their fifth consecutive monthly gain in March at +0.27%.

There continues to be a meaningful gap in performance between large managed futures funds and small ones. In Q1, large managed futures funds with more than $1 billion in assets were up +7.71%, vs only +2.91% for smaller managed futures funds. This continues the trend seen in 2014 when large managed futures funds returned +12.78% vs. +6.39% for smaller funds.

Activist strategies were down slightly in March at -0.58%, while the overall  event-driven hedge fund universe came in at +0.45%.

The biggest losses in March came from exposure to credit markets: directional credit strategies declined -1.57% and credit funds focused on Europe produced an average return of -4.87% for the entire Q1.

Emerging markets showed wide divergence of returns, with China focused  funds returning +8.35% while Brazil funds saw -14.39% returns.