Strong finish for currency fund managers?

Currency futures managers continued to chip away at their negative 2005 performance in recent weeks.

Through Nov. 28, Barclay Group’s (www.barclaygrp.com) Currency Traders Index was down 1.35 percent on the year — a little better than the - 2.07 percent reading a month earlier.

The Currency Trader’s index posted a .60-percent gain for October (with more than 91 percent of managers reporting).

Barclay’s BTOP FX Index, which reflects the performance of the largest currency managers on a daily basis, was up 1.51 percent for the month through Nov. 25, and up .97 percent on the year.

For the month of October, the top-five currency commodity trading advisors (CTAs) were: Monarch Capital Management (FX Multi-Strategy), up 7.88 percent (38.52 percent year to date); John W. Henry & Company, Inc. (Dollar), up 6.29 percent (-27.70 percent year-to-date); Alder Capital (Alder Global 20), up 5.80 percent (7.01 percent year-to-date; Wallwood Consultants Ltd.

(Forex), up 5.18 percent (25.93 percent year-to-date); and Alterama Inc. (Trendoscil Forex), up 5.01 percent (16.00 percent year to date).