Hedge Fund Research's weighted composite index eked out a gain of 0.39% in January 2009, having recorded an 18.7% fall for the whole of 2008.

Nearly all strategies monitored by the research outfit finished in positive territory, led by fixed income convertible arbitrage with a 5.85% gain. Asset backed fixed income and energy and basic materials strategies also finished with gains of over 3% apiece.

These rises represent something of a bounce-back from 2008, as these strategies were the pair that brought up the rear of the 20 sub-strategies monitored by Hedge Fund Research with 33.6% and 38.5% annual declines respectively.

The only declines for strategies during January were equity hedge, which fell 0.29%, and quantitative directional, which was down by five basis points.

The funds of funds index was up 0.98% for January, having finished 2008 with a 20.97% fall for the year.

For HFR's emerging market indices, January was not such a good month, with the overall index falling 1.72%. Asia ex-Japan fell by 2.46%, being kept off the bottom of the performance table only by the Russia/Eastern Europe index, which was down 4.17%.