Hedge funds which seek to profit from mispricings in the credit market have made the juiciest returns so far this year, according to new data from Lyxor, clocking up returns of 8.36 per cent between January and April. The data was for the Lyxor Long/Short Credit Arbitrage Index.

The strongest performing strategy category last month was the Lyxor Fixed Income Arbitrage index, at 3.02 per cent (8.26 per cent YTD). Other strong performers in April were the Lyxor Credit Strategies Index, at 2.29 per cent (4.89 per cent YTD), and the Lyxor Convertible Bonds & Volatility Index, at 1.79 per cent in April.

The data confirms other statistics, from organisations such as Hedge Fund Research, showing that April was a generally solid month for hedge fund returns. The sector is continuing to advance from a strong rebound in 2009 after suffering record losses in 2008.

The weakest strategy, unsurprisingly, was the Lyxor Equity Short Bias Index, at -1.64 per cent in April, translating into a negative showing of -11.06 per cent for the year to date. This figure was recorded before some of the market turmoil associated with Greek debt woes began to roil financial markets.

The Lyxor Hedge Fund Index across all strategies made returns of 0.92 per cent in April, and 2.96 per cent for the year to date.

Lyxor Asset Management is part of Paris-listed Société Générale.