Managed futures slipped again in April down 0.51 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

Managed futures slipped again in April down 0.51 per cent, according to the Barclay CTA Index compiled by BarclayHedge.

Year-to-date, the index is down 2.34 per cent.

'Directionless markets and conflicting trends made it difficult for CTAs to extract profits from trading positions in April,' says Sol Waksman, founder and president of BarclayHedge.

Six of Barclay's eight managed futures indices lost ground in April. Diversified traders dropped 1.24 per cent, systemic traders fell 1.09 per cent, and financial and metals traders were down 0.64 per cent.

'While the currencies of several of the main commodity exporting nations continued to gain in value, commodity prices overall were mixed to slightly down,' says Waksman.

Discretionary traders did manage a 0.33 per cent gain in April, and agricultural traders were up 0.21 per cent.

The Barclay BTOP50 Index, which monitors performance of the largest traders, lost 1.45 per cent in April, and is down 3.21 per cent in 2009.