Hedge Fund Industry’s Asian Contagion

Many funds opened in Asia last year after the economy hit the skids.

Japan Markets

A man walks by an electric market board in Tokyo, Thursday Oct. 30, 2008. Asian stock markets rallied Thursday, led by a 12 percent jump in South Korea, after the U.S. Federal Reserve slashed interest rates to help revive the world’s largest economy and opened new credit lines with central banks. Every major index advanced, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 stock average gaining 8.4 percent to 8,897.19 as exporters like Toyota and Sony got a boost from the yen continuing to retreat from a 13-year high against the dollar last week. (AP Photo/Katsumi Kasahara)

KATSUMI KASAHARA/AP

Nobody thinks that the hedge fund industry in Asia is in stellar shape, not after a year in which some 170 funds across the region closed, according to Eurekahedge, a Singapore-based research firm. Yet 90 funds opened there in 2008, and many came on the scene after the economy hit the skids.

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