The FQ Global Alternative Return Fund - benefits of currency investing

First Quadrant

The FQ Global Alternative Return Fund (the 'Fund') is a liquid alternative strategy that invests in developed currency markets and seeks to deliver positive returns when equity markets are under duress. Offered by First Quadrant (FQ), an affiliate of Affiliated Managers Group Inc, the Fund is available to financial advisers and wholesale investors as an Australian unit trust.

First Quadrant portfolio manager, Dori Levanoni, believes that while wholesale clients have ample access to traditional investment strategies, there are precious few that deliver investment returns that are uncorrelated and provide true diversification.

"Unlike the equity markets, most market participants transact in currency; they don't invest! Thus, one can find unique opportunities in the currency markets since many of its participants are not profit motivated. And the structure of these currency markets is not likely to change as there is an ever-growing flow of capital and goods and services moving across national borders which requires these multi-national players to trade currencies as a necessary part of settling their transactions. At First Quadrant, we believe this is a great place to generate uncorrelated returns," Levanoni said.