Blue Fin Capital's Managed Commodities Account ended 2008 on a positive note with a return of +1.78% in December, bringing its 2008 return to +11.43%.

Positive returns were generated through the fund's strategies in grains, softs and metals, although these were partially offset by negative returns in energies. The fund however underperformed against its benchmarks, the CSFB Managed Futures and Barclays Systematic Index, which returned 15.59% and 16.10% respectively in 2008 (to November). The Managed Commodities Account employs short term trading approaches in North American commodities futures markets, combining quantitative trading strategies with a robust risk management framework.

Attunga's three funds all reported negative returns for December - the Enviro Opportunities Fund returned -8.53% (-6.75% YTD), the Power & Enviro (Offshore) Fund -5.81% (-8.19%) and the Agricultural Trading Fund -2.05% (+22.42%).

Attunga blamed the lack of weather stimulus for high electricity prices at the start of summer as a significant driver of the December results. The commissioning of new power stations, as well as fewer active traders in the market over December also affected returns. For the Agricultural Trading Fund, lower crude oil prices and losses on US wheat spreads offset gains on volatility spreads in other commodities.

The Austral Equity Fund recorded a return of +0.45% in December, bringing its 2008 return to +1.30% and its 2009 financial year return to +2.90%.

The fund's positive return came amidst less volatile market conditions in December, although overall liquidity in equity markets was low. As a result the fund's trading activity was relatively low, the fund's return being mainly attributed to existing interest rate securities positions. The Austral Equity Fund is an event driven fund which invests mainly in Australian companies that are, or may be, involved in special situations or corporate events.

The Prime Value Growth Fund (PVGF) recorded a loss of -4.9% in November, bringing its YTD performance to -33.1%. The Prime Value Imputation Fund (PVIF) also posted a loss of -8.3% in November, making its YTD performance -41.2%. Both funds invest in a long portfolio of predominantly Australian listed equities.

The PVGF outperformed the S&P/ASX300 Index (-6.3% in November), which Prime Value attributed to the fund's underweight positions in Australian financial and consumer discretionary stocks, while at the same time holding cash in negative market conditions. Although optimistic about investment prospects in 2009, the fund will remain cautious in the near term.

The PVIF underperformed the S&P/ASX300 Index, mostly due to the fund's overweight position to Australian industrial stocks, although this was somewhat offset by the fund's cash holding.

The Platypus Asian Equities Fund was down -0.14% in November, while the Platypus Australian Long/Short Fund was up +0.21% (both in USD). The respective YTD returns for these funds are now +2.31% and -6.53%.

The Asian Equities Fund, a systematic long/short Asian equities fund, cites the fund's overall net short position over recent months as the main driver of performance. The fund remains lightly invested across countries.

The Australian Long/Short Fund, a systematic long/short Australian equities fund, noted that the local currency return for the month was in fact +0.41%. Overall the positive November result was attributed to the strong performance of the fund's market neutral portfolio, which returned +4.43% on an attributed basis.

Cadence Capital Limited was down -6.38% after fees in November, bringing its YTD performance to -34.16%.

Although outperforming the All Ordinaries Accumulation Index (-7.2%) and the Small Ordinaries Accumulation Index (-9.6%) in November, the fund recorded a negative result to follow on from negative results in October and September. During November the fund significantly decreased their net exposure to the market from October (47.7% to 28.4%). Cadence Capital Limited is an Australian long/short equity fund, with a long bias towards small- and medium-capitalisation listed entities.

The MQ Asia Long Short Fund returned +0.08% in November, and is now at -10.68% for the past 12 months. This is compared to the Eurekahedge Asia Long Short Index which was down -23.72% over the same period.

Like many other funds, the fund reported an increased level of redemptions during November, and during December has been actively managing these outflows. MQ believes there are several reasons for the fund to be optimistic about the future, including the decreased distortions in liquidity markets, the availability of more accurate macro research reports and the fact that the fund has minimal directional market exposure.

Aurora Funds Management's Infrastructure Buy-Write Income Trust, managed by Talon Infrastructure, reported a return of +1.58% for November, bringing its performance since inception (December 2007) to -2.49% and its YTD performance to -2.55%.

This result compares favourably to the UBS Global 50/50 Infrastructure and Utility Index, which returned -34.3% since the trust's inception. The trust aims to generate positive returns from investing in listed infrastructure entities worldwide, through active derivatives trading. The positive performance in November was due to positive performance in the trust's US positions, offset partially by negative returns on UK and European positions.

Financial Risk Management's (FRM) Global Equity Fund posted a loss of -0.85% in November, while their Diversified Australia Fund posted -2.29%. The YTD returns of these funds now stand at -26.19% and -21.43% respectively.

FRM's Global Equity Fund, a fund of hedge funds (FoHF) which pursues an active strategy in equity markets, outperformed its benchmark (the MSCI World Index hedged in AUD) which returned -6.08% in November. The fund recorded losses in most geographic regions, with Japan the only region which prodcued a positive absolute return.

The Diversified Australian Fund, a FoFH which aims to produce returns in excess of cash with a near zero beta to traditional assets, reported losses in most strategies. Positive returns were generated by directional trading managers, specifically those with systematic and relative value macro strategies.

Blue Sky's World Fund returned +6.30% in November, and is up +0.98% YTD. This result means the fund has generated consistently positive returns since August this year.

The fund's positive performance was attributed to index futures and forex strategies, which were however partially offset by negative returns in North American and Asia Pacific equity strategies.