Equity hedge funds have delivered the highest total returns this year but managers of global macro funds demonstrated the most skill, according to a new report.

Research from BlackRock Alternative Advisors, the $3.86 trillion US manager's hedge fund division, analysed the 1,204 hedge funds in Hedge Fund Research's database, dissecting performance into "alpha" and "beta". Alpha is an industry term used to mean manager skill and refers to the performance above the market return or "beta".