(Bloomberg) -- Losses at Pierre Andurand’s hedge fund deepened in January as fears of the coronavirus hurting global economic growth roiled commodity markets and squeezed the demand for oil.
His Andurand Commodities Fund, one of the oil market’s last remaining hedge funds, slumped about 8.4% last month, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. The losses marked the fund’s biggest monthly decline since October 2018 when the fund had plunged 21%, an investor letter shows.
A spokesman for the London-based investment firm declined to comment.
Oil had its worst start to a year since 1991 on concern the spread of the coronavirus will curb demand in China for transportation fuels. WTI fell 16% in January as the world’s largest oil importer locked down its cities in a bid to prevent the spread of the virus.
The market is facing a 200 million-barrel demand loss in the first quarter, with a 4 million-barrels-a-day decrease in China currently as the virus hits economic activity and restricts travel, Vitol Chief Executive Officer Russell Hardy said in a Bloomberg TV interview Thursday.
Last month’s losses pile pressure on Andurand who suffered back-to-back yearly losses last year. The fund was down 7.1% in 2019 and 20% a year earlier.
Financial Times was first to report news of the drop in January.
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