Managed futures ended February in positive territory as managers were able to capitalise on long exposures to the short-end of the US yield curve, long positions in equities and commodities, and short currency positions.

The Lipper Managed Futures/CTA index registered a slightly positive return of 0.40 per cent for February and is down 3.79 per cent year on year.

The strategy was the runner-up of the month on the hedge fund performance league table.

The degree of dispersion among individual fund returns increased further from the previous month’s reading. A 33.48-percentage-point monthly performance difference in February divided the top and bottom performers of the actively reporting managers tracked by Lipper.

February reversed January’s readings. Managers with assets in excess of USD45m returned a better average performance at 1.15 per cent month on month—76 basis points above the average reading for the strategy.

Large managed dutures managers returned a negative 2.17 per cent on average for the 12-month rolling period at the end of February 2010, according to the report by Lipper Tass.