UPDATE 1-Broker MF Global launches managed futures unit

* New business will source clients for commodity trend funds

* New unit will also enter fund management business in US

(Updates with details of new business throughout)

NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - Global commodity futures brokerage MF Global (MF.N) said on Tuesday it has launched a managed futures division that will source clients for funds that follow commodity trends.

MF Global said its newly minted Alternative Investment Strategies (AIS) division also plans to enter the fund management business in the United States.

"We are leveraging our U.S. distribution network and decades of leadership in futures to broaden the services and products we offer our clients," Bernard Dan, MF Global's chief executive, said in a statement.

Managed futures funds thrived through last year's market gyrations, buying oil, metals, grains and equities as they rose and selling them as they fell.

The industry members, known as Commodity Trading Advisors, or CTAs, gained an average of 14 percent through 2008, with some individual funds up as much as 60 percent. Many hedge funds, in comparison, lost at least 20 percent for the year.

MF Global said its brokers have begun introducing clients to a select set of CTAs.

"We have spent considerable time conducting due diligence in order to identify what we think are a highly unique set of experienced managers worldwide," said Adam Rochlin, head of MF Global's AIS division.

(Reporting by Barani Krishnan; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)