US university endowments which have more than $1bn (€825m) of assets have cut their exposure to hedge funds, according to the Commonfund Institute, a US research organisation.

Commonfund's data shows the average allocation to hedge funds of the largest endowments, with at least $1bn of assets, has fallen from 19.3% of their total portfolios at the end of 2004 to 18.5% now.