(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s hedge fund clients focused on Asian stocks lost 3.3% in November as renewed virus concerns sparked a global selloff in the second half of the month, the bank’s prime brokerage wrote in a note.

The asset-weighted average decline compared with a 3.8% drop in the benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific Index in dollar terms, suggesting managers offered investors limited protection against the market-wide slump. Funds focusing on Chinese and Japanese stocks fared better compared to their respective benchmarks, according to the note.

Investors are bailing from stocks as anxiety over the omicron variant and monetary policy roil markets. November’s loss wiped out this year’s gain for Goldman’s Asia stock hedge fund clients. The group previously held up better than China-focused funds, which in the first nine months swung to losses on regulatory tightening and geopolitical concerns.

China stock-picking hedge funds slipped 0.9% for the month, against the 6% drop of the MSCI China Index. Japan-focused stock pickers edged down 0.4%, while the MSCI Japan Index retreated 2.1%. Still, the region’s funds held up better than global peers, which lost 3.3% in November, trailing the 2.3% decline of the MSCI World Index, according to the investment bank. 

Vicki Kwong, a Goldman Sachs spokeswoman in Hong Kong, declined to comment on the note.

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