Winners And Losers

Still, some funds outperformed.

Lansdowne Partners' $10 billion long-short equity fund was up 33.3 percent by mid-December, helped by gains in one of its largest holdings, Lloyds Banking Group, while Egerton Capital's main fund was 23.5 percent ahead, data seen by Reuters shows.

Credit-focused funds also beat traditional investments, with funds trading high-yield debt returning 8 to 10 percent, investors familiar with the sector said.

Elsewhere, global macro managers, who bet on shifts in the global economy and are among the most-celebrated in the industry, struggled to get to grips with central bank policy.

Funds who bet Japan's monetary stimulus would send the yen sliding, like those run by Caxton Associates and Moore Capital, generated double-digit gains but others found it tough to make money from their usual bets on Treasuries as the United States moved towards tapering its $85 billion a month asset-buying program.

The $16 billion BlueCrest Capital International fund is flat while Brevan Howard - the largest hedge fund manager in Europe - had only made 2.2 percent in its Master fund by the end of November.

Meanwhile computer-driven funds, staffed by mathematicians who employ complex algorithms to try and outwit markets, had another down year amid a lack of discernible trends in markets.

BlueTrend - part of BlueCrest Capital - fell 8.7 percent during the first 11 months of 2013. Aspect Capital lost out too and was down 6.5 percent by mid-December, while Cantab Capital suffered a far-bigger 29 percent plunge in its main fund.

With traders failing to make money as volatility fell and price moves in key oil and copper markets stayed small, commodity funds also dropped for the third year in a row.