The Aurora Property Buy-Write Income Trust lost -1.1% in April, missing out on gains made on the S&P ASX 200 Property Accumulation Index which gained +6.07%.

The majority of gains on the index (+4.6%) were made in the first three days of April, while the Fund only began to reinvest in the market at the start of the month and was fully invested only at 24th April. The index outperformed to ASX 300 in April for the first time in six months. Westfield in particular performed strongly, accounting for 3.65% of the overall 6.07% of the index result. The Fund did hold a position in Westfield, however at a different weighting to that of the index, and return was partially offset by a call option sold over the holding.

The Aurora Sandringham Dividend Income Trust was also in the red in April, down -1.88%, while the Aurora Infrastructure Buy-Write Income Trust gained +1.8%.

The Absolute Macro Diversified Fund was up +8.19% in April (USD class) on the back of gains of almost +20% in Asian markets (ex Japan), India in particular performing strongly.

Energy commodities also contributed strongly to overall performance. The only negative return came from gold, which was down -3% for the month. The manager anticipates however that the US dollar will weaken in coming months, which will ultimately cause gold prices to rise. The Fund has substantially increased its exposure in recent months, however its allocation to 'risk' assets is now near maximum preset levels.

Absolute Asset Management's other funds, the Absolute Trading 1 Fund and the Asian REIT Property Fund, also enjoyed positive returns in April (+2.48% and +2.4% respectively).

The Apeiron Global Macro Fund recorded a small gain of +0.25% in April on the back of neutral to positive global market returns.

The Fund, which aims to identify overarching trends in global futures and FX markets and invest based on markets which qualify as over- or undervalued, ended the month long in wheat and gold amongst others, and short in gilts, Japanese government bonds and Australian equity futures. The outbreak of swine flu increased volatility during the month however overall markets trended upwards.The manager retains a positive outlook in commodities in the medium to long term, however believes further gains in these markets will be volatile, and thus will continue to trade opportunistically.

The Denning Pryce Equity Income Fund recorded a second consecutive positive month, up +5.17%, and outperformed its benchmark (the S&P/ASX 50 Index) by +0.46%.

The Fund, which aims to generate returns of 10% per annum with approximately half the risk of the S&P/ASX 50 Index by holding a blue chip equity portfolio and selling selected call options, is now up +10.28% over the last three months. Top performing stocks included Onesteel, OZ Minerals and Macquarie Group, while worst performing stocks included Bluescope, Macquarie Infrastructure Group and Fortescue Metals. The Fund was heavily invested in equities at month end, with over 87% of the portfolio invested, which enhanced the Fund's overall result.

The Jaguar Australian Leaders Long Short Unit Trust gained +0.06% in April, preserving the Fund's record of generating positive returns for every month in 2009 so far.

This result comes after the Fund gained +13.49% in March, and +12.91% in January this year. During the month the Fund increased its net market exposure from 84% to 99%, adding long industrial stock positions while going short in materials and REITs. The manager acknowledged the Fund's return was affected by the ongoing short selling ban on financial stocks, which reduced their ability to implement their long short strategy. Going forward the manager has identified the sustainability of the current market rally as a key issue facing investors.

The Quant Asset Management (QAM) Global Equities Fund gained +19.9% in April on the back of equities market rallies worldwide.

The Fund, which has the heaviest regional weighting towards the US (22% at the end of the month) followed by Europe (France 12%, Germany 9%), and heaviest industry weighting towards banks (23%), benefited immensely from the strong rallies in these markets during the month. Broken down, the overall result came from a +35.77% gain in long equity positions, less a -15.87% loss on short futures.

QAM's other fund, the QAM Asian Equities Fund, made a smaller gain in April, up +4.39%. This result comprised a -20.55% gain in long equities less a -16.16% loss on short futures. The Fund ended the month strongly weighted towards South Korea (36%) followed by Thailand (15%) and Hong Kong (12%).

The St Helens Capital (SHC) Ailsa Fund was up +3.32%, and the SHC Arran Fund +3.68%, in April on the back of stronger equity markets.

The manager noted that one cause of the recent rally in equity markets may be the improvement in earnings downgrades, as well as the increasingly popular belief that bad news has already been priced into the market and a modest recovery in debt markets. In light of this the manager has been reviewing the defensive positions in the SHC Funds' portfolios, believing the best mispricing opportunities may come from the current discrepancy between defensive and cyclical stocks. However, should the current estimates of 2010 EPS growth prove too optimistic, the downgrade cycle may resume its downward trend.

The Antares Lodestar Absolute Return Trust posted a small gain of +1.60% in April, continuing the Fund's 2009 trend of posting small upside or downside returns.

The Fund increased its net exposure to 30% over the month, adding cyclical stocks such as Bradken and Western Areas, but also closing out many cyclical positions as these stocks reached their set price targets. These cyclical stocks were the key drivers of performance, with Bradken and Western Areas (which were both up over 30% for April) contributed most to the overall return. Axa Asia Pacific also performed well, the return enhanced by the Fund's participation in the company's capital raising. Rio Tinto, Village Roadshow and A J Lucas were the key detractors from performance. Although there are signs of recovery in global economic markets, the Fund remains underinvested in equities while lagging and coincident indicators remain negative.

The Fortitude Absolute Return Fund made a slight gain of +0.26% in April, while the Cayman Islands extension of the Fund made +0.13%, driven by yield and small cap portfolios.

The Fund's yield positions performed particularly strongly during April, with Macquarie Airports Tickets (the largest single name exposure in the portfolio) performing strongly. In the small cap area, the manager carried out a deliberate approach of trading event names, which proved successful. Derivative strategies struggled, though the manager remain committed to a long gamma view.

The Optimal Asia Absolute Trust, an Australian/NZ focused equity long short fund, was up +1.4% in April, underperforming the ASX 200 which gained +5.54%.

The Fund, which commenced investing in September 2008, has achieved a remarkably stable performance history given market conditions - the Fund returned +5.09% last year and is up +5.79% so far in 2009, with an annualised standard deviation of a low 3.63%.

None of the Fund's long positions made a loss during April, however index futures, and materials, retail and gaming sector short positions were all in the red. The manager commented that the ongoing short selling ban on financial stocks and REITs, as well as the large number of capital raisings in recent months, continues to detract from performance.