A sector that has sometimes come under criticism for its fees and lukewarm returns has chalked up robust returns this year, with possible profit-taking a reason for some outflows last month.

The sometimes-maligned hedge fund sector has chalked up robust returns for much of this year – if not quite matching global equity indices – and gains may be prompting investors to book some profits ahead of 2018, according to research and data firm eVestment. 

There were $2.9 billion of redemptions from funds in October, the organisation said. Performance gains, however, have helped to push total assets under management in the sector to a record $3.253 trillion. 

The proportion of funds losing assets in October was similar to the proportion seen in September, roughly 54 per cent. Both levels are higher than any other month of 2017, but again net redemptions were not generally high during October, the report said. Net flows for the industry year-to-date in 2017 are strongly positive, with AuM up $33.26 billion so far.

Some 80 per cent of the industry is positive in 2017, with average gains from those funds in the black nearing 12 per cent. In October, the hedge fund industry returned an average of +1.22 per cent, bringing year-to-date returns to +7.18 per cent.

Fixed-income/credit funds saw AuM rise by $2.59 billion in October and have seen AuM rise by $10.99 billion YTD, bringing AuM for these funds to $984.1 billion.

Equity funds were down nearly $3 billion in AuM in October, but are still up by $15.16 billion YTD.

Among primary strategies, managed futures funds were big winners in October, with AuM up by $2.85 billion for the month. Managed futures still suffered a big quarterly hit of -$4.85 billion in 3Q so overall AuM for these funds is up by $3.84 billion YTD.

Macro funds were among the big AuM losers in October, with AuM down by $3.96 billion for the month, but YTD, assets under management are up $12.58 billion.

Emerging markets-focused funds saw AuM up $4.23 billion in October. For the year emerging markets-focused fund AuM is up $7.38 billion, with the biggest gainers in new assets for the year being among products focused on credit opportunities.