The data, from Chicago-headquartered , showed that there was, in the second quarter of 2017, a quarterly rise of $34.1 billion, driven by net inflows of $6.7 billion. The second-quarter inflows offset an outflow of $5.5 billion in the first quarter, bringing year-to-date net inflows to $1.2 billion.

Performance of hedge funds continued to improve, HRF said. The HFRI Fund Weighted Composite Index®, HFR’s main barometer of results, posted its eighth consecutive monthly gain and fifteenth gain in the past 16 months to conclude 2Q17, the longest such performance streak since the period ending April 2004.

The index value has increased to a record of 13,420, the seventh consecutive monthly record. The HFRI FWC Index climbed 3.6 per cent in the first six months of 2017, led by the HFRI Equity Hedge (Total) Index, which returned 6.1 per cent.

Investor inflows were led by quantitative, trend-following global macro strategies, which typically exhibit low correlation to equity markets and other hedge fund strategies, and trade globally across fixed income, equities, commodities and currencies. Investors allocated $5.2 billion to macro strategies in 2Q17, bringing the first-half 2017 inflows to $6.0 billion and total capital in macro to $579.2 billion.

Macro sub-strategy inflows were led by systematic diversified/CTA strategies , which received $3.1 billion in new capital, bringing the 1H17 net inflow to $7.9 billion.

Equity hedge strategies received net inflows of $3.8 billion in the second quarter of 2017, bringing total equity hedge capital to $893.8 billion, the largest strategy area of industry capital.

Investors also allocated to fixed income-based relative value arbitrage strategies, with these receiving $1.6 billion of net new capital in the second quarter of this year, partially offsetting the $5.4 billion outflow in the first quarter of 2017. Relative value arbitrage value sub-strategy inflows were led by fixed income corporate and asset backed.

Event-driven strategies experienced an outflow of $3.8 billion in the second quarter, offsetting an inflow of $3.5 billion from the first quarter of this year, and bringing total ED capital to $800 billion.