Scotia Capital today announced the launch of the Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance Index. The announcement was made at the firm’s Canadian Hedge Funds forum being held in Zurich, Switzerland.

“Scotia Capital is proud to be at the forefront of this exciting new industry by launching the very first Canadian focused hedge fund index,” said Mike Durland, managing director and co-head of capital markets, in a release. “The Canadian hedge fund industry has now reached a size that warrants an index, and with Scotia Capital’s strong history of providing market indices, we’re proud to take this leading role.”

The new index will provide investors with a monthly snapshot of the growing Canadian hedge fund scene. The index, which is calculated on both an equal and asset-weighted basis, tracks funds managed by Canadian based advisors, with a minimum of $15-million in assets under management and an audited 12 month track record.

Responding to today’s announcement, Gary Ostoich, president of Salida Capital, a Toronto based hedge fund, and executive committee member of AIMA Canada said, “The index will be great for international investors to gauge what is going on in the Canadian hedge fund industry.”

The Canadian hedge fund industry, buoyed by strong commodity prices in 2005, returned strong numbers compared to their foreign counterparts. The Scotia Capital Canadian Hedge Fund Performance Index returned 16.49% on asset- weighted basis and 16.56% on an equal weighted basis.

The index can be viewed monthly on Scotia Capital’s Web site, on Bloomberg under the tickers SCHFPIAW INDEX and SCHFPIEW INDEX and on Reuters via the SCOTIACAPITAL page.