PMA says Harvester hedge fund up 4.83 pct in Oct

HONG KONG Nov 5 (Reuters) - Hedge fund manager PMA said on Wednesday its flagship macro vehicle focusing on foreign exchange and interest rate markets returned 4.83 percent in October, even as the global financial crisis ravaged many of its peers.

The unit of SPARX Group Co Ltd 8739.Q, Japan's largest listed hedge fund manager, said the PMA Harvester Fund managed by macro-strategy chief investment officer Shun Hong Liu had now returned 21.33 percent year-to-date.

"Given that we anticipate that market conditions will remain difficult in the near-term, our strategy will be to remain light and nimble in our positions," the CIO said in a statement.

"There are many landmines in the markets at the moment, with the full impact of the unwinding of structured products, potential pension underfunding, and resulting downward stock market pressure as yet unknown."

The hedge fund industry in Asia and globally has been hammered by tumbling equity prices and a surge in volatility across financial markets. After five straight years of double-digit percentage gains, the Eurekahedge Asian Hedge Fund Index is down 22.16 percent this year.

Founded in July 2002, Hong Kong-based PMA is one of the region's biggest home-grown hedge fund managers with about $2.2 billion in assets under management. It was acquired by SPARX in 2006. (Reporting by Jeffrey Hodgson; editing by Anne Marie Roantree)