Tibra Capital's Australian Market Neutral Fund has posted its first negative month for July (-7.32%) since inception in October 2007 to take 2008 YTD performance to +26.89%.

The manager noted in their monthly investor newsletter that the portfolio had previously benefited from a thematic long bias to energy stocks, and the sharp sell off in oil led to a fall of almost 16% in the energy sector, and a fall of 6% on the ASX200.  They also pointed to continued reduced option volumes across all sectors, reflecting a continued lack of confidence in an oscillating but directionless broader market.

Tibra Capital Management is the funds management division of Tibra Capital, a diversified financial services company with global operations.  The fund has an investment universe of the ASX200 index, and aims to deliver net absolute returns of 18-22% pa regardless of market conditions.

Redwood Capital's Apeiron Global Macro Fund has reported a positive result for July 2008, returning 1.53% to take YTD 2008 performance to +7.07% and a 12 month rolling return of +14.73%.

Redwood noted in their monthly report that they had benefited from being short oil and the Australian dollar during the month, while being short equities and bonds had both detracted from performance. The manager also noted economic slowdown spreading throughout the world, and the potential for geopolitical risks in both China and the Middle East to potentially lead to some counter cyclical market moves.

The Apeiron Global Macro Fund uses directional strategies in futures and FX markets to implement investment themes. The fund was formerly called Solaris Global Macro, and returned 20.79% in calendar 2007. Redwood Capital has a total of A$36.5m in funds under management.

Excalibur's FX Absolute Return fund posted a positive result of +0.21% in July 2008, bringing 2008 YTD performance to +10.21%.

The manager's monthly report noted a difficult month for most funds, with the AUD/US hitting $0.9850, the highest level since the A$ was floated in 1984, and the AUD/Yen reaching a high of 104.50. The fund's open positions were on average 1.55x leveraged and the manager reported further fund inflows from European and Asian institutions for August.

Excalibur Funds Management is a Sydney based absolute return manager, following a 50/50 Systematic/Discretionary trading approach. The wholesale offshore Currency / Asian focused fund was established in the BVI in July 2006, and has a compound average annual return of over 26% with low correlation to other markets including the S&P.

Regal Funds Management's Amazon Market Neutral Fund recorded a fall of 7.63 per cent in July, however healthy returns over the last few months still leave a positive return of 6.22 per cent for the year so far. By comparison the ASX200 lost 4.6 per cent in July and is down 10.3 per cent over the last six months.

Most disappointing for the manager was mis-timing adjustments to the portfolio, including cutting short positions in ANZ and NAB only days before they both announced significant increases in their bad debt provisions which saw both stocks lose around 20 per cent.

Amazon, a Cayman based Market Neutral fund open to wholesale investors only, returned +32% in 2007, and 42% in 2006 for an annualised return post all fees of 34.43% since inception in September 2005. Investing mainly in Australia, with some opportunistic positions mainly in Europe, Amazon does not invest in emerging markets.

Regal Funds Management was established by Andrew King in January 2004 following experience with local boutique manager Paradice Investment Management.

Select Asset Management's Futures Fund has reported a positive performance of 7.84% for June 2008, bringing cumulative YTD performance since January 2008 to 18.46%, and an annualised performance since inception in March 2007 of 21.8% net of all fees.

The Fund reported positive contributions overall from each sector of the Fund, but performance was particularly driven by the agriculturals, energies and stock indices sectors. Select noted that the weakening US economy benefited their predominantly short positions in US stock indices and European market sectors, whilst long positions in grains and natural gas both performed well.

The Select Futures Fund is a systematic (quantitative) global futures trading program managed by London based Aspect Capital. The Fund is structured as an Australian resident open ended unit trust operated as a registered managed investment scheme.

The Saltbush Amalg Market Neutral Fund has reported a negative result for June 2008, bringing the YTD result to a negative 7.86% after all fees. This compares with a decline of 7.8% for the ASX200 for June, and falls of 17.1% since January.

Saltbush's monthly report noted that since the sell off in Australian equities commenced in November 2007, 70% of ASX200 stocks have fallen by greater than 20%, and 30% of ASX200 stocks have declined by over 40%. Against these statistics the Saltbush Amalg fund has declined less than 7% since November 2007.

The Saltbush Amalg Fund is an Australian domiciled equities fund established in January 2004 which invests in Australian equities utilising a medium term strategic portfolio combined with active tactical and derivative overlays. The Fund's objective is to deliver net absolute returns of 12-15% pa regardless of market direction with low risk market exposure and volatility of returns.

Regal Funds Management's Amazon Market Neutral Fund has continued recent impressive returns with a positive performance of 6.28% after all fees for June, bringing YTD performance (since January 2008) to +14.97%, against the ASX200 which recorded a monthly decline of 7.8% and a decline of 17.1% YTD.

Understandably profits were made on the short side (+12%) particularly in the Financial sector, whilst long positions lost 5% in total.

Amazon, a Cayman based Market Neutral fund open to wholesale investors only, returned +32% in 2007, and 42% in 2006 for an annualised return post all fees of 34.43% since inception in September 2005. Investing mainly in Australia, with some opportunistic positions mainly in Europe, Amazon does not invest in emerging markets.

Regal Funds Management was established by Andrew King in January 2004 following experience with local boutique manager Paradice Investment Management.