Short-sellers profit in choppy October-Lipper

* Short-bias funds gain 1.61 pct, FTSE 100 falls 1.74 pct

* Managed futures continue to struggle

LONDON, Nov 11 (Reuters) - Hedge funds that bet just on
falling stock prices were the top performers in a tough October
for stock markets, data from Lipper reveals.
The data, which unlike other major indices is not asset
weighted, meaning each fund counts equally, shows dedicated
short bias was the top-performing strategy with a 1.61 percent
gain.

During the month the FTSE 100 .FTSE lost almost 2 percent,
falling back in the second half of the month on concerns the
premature withdrawal of government stimulus could damage an
economic recovery still in its early stages.

In contrast, long-bias funds lost 0.38 percent, while
long-short funds were almost flat with a 0.04 percent rise.

Multi-strategy funds performed well with a 0.65 percent
gain, but managed futures, which have suffered this year from a
lack of clear trends and which dislike market reversals, fell a
further 1.02 percent.
The top and bottom-performing ten funds in September,
meanwhile, are shown below.

Top Ten
Fund Sept performance 12-month performance
1. Alegra ABS Two (Euro) 42.29 -8.55
2. Wessex Gold Class A 38.07 43.96
3. Wessex Natural Resource Ltd 34.83 46.64
4. Alegra ABS I EUR 32.27 -47.95
5. Spectrum CIS Value 27.10 -30.96
6. Zambezi Absolute Return 26.72 93.07
7. Valu-Trac Strategic 26.17 36.02

2.5x USD SPC
8. Coronation Latitude 26.12 25.41
9. Quorum Ltd 26.00 1.25
10. Firebird Global II Ltd 25.60 12.75

Bottom Ten
Fund Sept performance 12-month performance
1. 788 China -29.80 -70.36
2. 788 Japan -26.74 -91.87
3. Harewood Vol Edge B -21.95 20.52
4. Harewood Vol Edge A -21.92 20.71
5. Japan Synthetic Warrant -18.99 -35.22

Yen Class
6. Japan Synthetic Warrant -18.34 -36.85
7. The High Risk Fund Ltd -16.42 -51.81
8. Northern Rivers Innovation LP -14.05 -47.96
9. Strategic Evarich -12.00 -11.81

Japan Fund (USD)
10. Glenwood Focus -11.97 -8.74
Lipper is a Thomson Reuters company.
(To read the Reuters Hedge Fund Blog click on
blogs.reuters.com/hedgehub; for the Global Investing Blog
click here)
(Reporting by Laurence Fletcher)