"Alternative Alternatives" investment funds gained 0.99% in February,

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The Opalesque A SQUARE Index gained* 0.99% in February, outweighing January's loss of 0.19% and bringing the year-to-date performance to +0.80%. The A SQUARE Funds of Funds Index gained an estimated 1.05% in February after a negative January result of -0.61%, adding to a year-to-date gain of 0.44%. Opalesque also announced the final 2010 performance figures: The A SQUARE Index rose 10.94% last year, the A SQUARE Funds of Funds Index rose 4.40%.

Over the last 12 months, performance of the A SQUARE Index ranged between a gain of 3.12% in September 2010 and a loss of 1.97% in May 2010, with 9 positive and 3 negative months. Since global equity markets posted broad gains again in February, Alternative Alternatives funds underperformed their two benchmarks for the second time this year: Hedge funds tracked by the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index returned 1.32% in February (+12.46% over the last 12 months). The MSCI World Index posted another strong month with a gain of 3.33% in February (+19.48% over the last 12 months).

In terms of absolute and relative risk, both the A SQUARE Index and the A SQUARE Funds of Funds Index did better than their benchmarks over the analyzed 12-month period: Volatility (defined as annualized standard deviation) was 4.97% for the A SQUARE Index and 5.10% for the FoF Index, compared to 6.32% for the HFRI and over 19.93% for the MSCI World.

Market risk, measured by the corresponding beta values, was low for both A SQUARE indices, a result of the small volatility and low correlation of the funds listed in the A SQUARE database with both equity markets and hedge fund strategies (0.21 and 0.75 respectively for the A SQUARE Index).

Historically, the A SQUARE single manager funds delivered steady, double-digit returns from 2004 to 2010 (with the exception of the financial crisis year 2008), ranging between 10.94% in 2010 and 14.85% in 2005, and outperforming the HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index four times. During the crisis year of 2008, the A SQUARE Index provided significant downside protection, ending the year 2008 down 5.87%, compared to a HFRI decline of around 20%.

About the Opalesque A2 Indices and database:
Opalesque A SQUARE = Alternative Alternatives is the first web publication, globally, that is dedicated exclusively to “alternative” investments. A SQUARE's weekly selection feature unique investment opportunities that bear virtually no correlation to the main stream hedge fund strategies and/or distinguish themselves by virtue of their “alternative” motive - social, behavioural, natural resources, sustainable / environment related investing. The archive containing all issues of A SQUARE published to date can be found here:
http://www.opalesque.com/index.php?act=archiveA2&formsea ...

With currently 601 Alternative Funds in 22 categories, the new A SQUARE database is the only database dedicated exclusively to "alternative alternatives" investments with fast facts and investment oriented analysis. The A SQUARE database is located here:
http://www.opalesquesolutions.com/asquare/

The A SQUARE Index and the A SQUARE FoF Index are the first indices tracking the performance of niche investment strategies only. Both indices are equally weighting the performance of all funds and FoFs listed in our database. More information on the performance and methodology of the indices can be found here:
http://www.opalesquesolutions.com/asquare/a2index.html

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About Opalesque:
In 2003, with the publication of its daily Alternative Market Briefing, Opalesque successfully launched an information revolution in the hedge fund media space: "Opalesque changed the world by bringing transparency where there was opacity and by delivering an accurate professional reporting service." - Nigel Blanchard, Culross. This hybrid financial news service, which combines proprietary industry news stories and filtered third party reports, has been credited by many industry insiders with delivering precise, accurate, and vital information to a notoriously guarded audience.

Each week, Opalesque sends out over 700,000 editions of its seventeen publications to a global readership in over 170 countries. Opalesque is the only daily hedge fund publisher which is actually read by the elite managers themselves (www.opalesque.com/op_testimonials.html).