Some of the world's largest hedge funds finished 2024 with comfortable double-digit returns, benefiting from chaotic markets, central bank policy changes and a tight U.S. presidential election race.

Hedge funds, which trade several different asset classes from stocks to commodities, navigated volatile markets with some degree of success. British hedge fund Marshall Wace, which manages almost $71 billion, returned double-digit gains in several of its funds, a source close to the matter told Reuters Thursday.

Co-founded by British financier Paul Marshall, the firm returned around 14% in its Eureka fund, just over 22% in its Market Neutral Tops fund and almost 16% in its Alpha Plus fund in the year to Dec. 27, the source said.

Large U.S. multi-strategy firms also posted double-digit gains. Hedge fund manager Bridgewater Associates' flagship Pure Alpha 18% volatility fund gained just over 11% in 2024 through Dec. 27, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

Other hedge funds managed by Bridgewater also posted double-digit returns, with the China Total Return USD fund up 35% in the same period, the source added. The $72.1 billion Millennium Management returned 15% in 2024 with a 2.5% gain in December, said a person familiar with the results.

Two of D.E. Shaw's multi-strategy funds posted double-digit returns including its flagship Composite fund, which gained 18% in 2024 and its more macro-oriented fund Oculus, which posted a 36% return in the same period, its best ever annual performance, said another person close to the matter.

D.E. Shaw oversees $65 billion in assets. Millennium and D.E. Shaw's results were first reported by the FT and Bloomberg, respectively.

Last year's gains came as rate cuts from the likes of the U.S. Federal Reserve helped push stocks higher, while a decisive election win for Donald Trump and Bank of Japan rate hikes were other catalysts for big market swings.

Hedge funds in 2023 averaged a 5.7% return in the year through November, according to hedge fund research firm PivotalPath.

Quantitative hedge funds, which use algorithms and coding to track markets, benefited from big moves in several markets including equities, currencies, grains and "soft" commodities such as cocoa and coffee, which both surged last year.

For the $728 million Dunn Capital Management, these were all positive drivers for the Dunn WMA trading program, which returned 7.28% for the year despite negative drivers in energies, metals and European equities, said a source with knowledge of the matter.

Hedge fund CFM (Capital Fund Management), also a quantitative investment manager, returned 12.01% in its Discus Fund and 14.22% in its Stratus Fund, another source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

British fund Winton saw a roughly 10% return on investment in its multi-strategy systematic fund. Overall, the hedge fund manages around $13 billion.

Transtrend's Diversified Trend Program returned 5.90% for 2024.