Like global stock markets, the Rehab Great Investment Race did not enjoy the best of starts to the New Year.

Four of the six fund managers competing in the race posted negative returns over the course of January, two of them sinking even deeper into the red.

Both Setanta and Montgomery Oppenheim added to the losses racked up in December, leaving them 6 and 7 per cent adrift of their €100,000 starting point, respectively.

Montgomery Oppenheim, which had 70 per cent of its investment in its global equity fund, suffered most from the downturn in stock markets worldwide in January, as its fund lost 3.8 per cent of its value to €92,984.

Over the course of the month, the Dow Jones index of blue-chip stocks was down 3.5 per cent as uncertainty over whether or not the US was going to war against Iraq weighed on markets.

In London, the FTSE 100 had one of its worst months since the index began in 1984, shedding 9.5 per cent of its value. In Dublin, Irish shares were off by a more modest 0.6 per cent over the course of January.

Setanta, which held a number of direct equity investments, also felt the pain, losing 2.3 per cent to leave its fund at €93,859 at the end of January.

It has since moved around 65 per cent of its fund into cash, according to fund manager Mr Gary Connolly, where it is happy to remain for the moment. "There are plenty of stocks where we can see great value but we are not that confident of buying anything today that is going to be higher at the end of the month," he says.

The largest loser in January was Hibernian, whose fund shed 4.3 per cent of its value to €104,902 as technology stocks proved its downfall. The fund manager moved its investment from Irish equities into technology stocks in the middle of the month in the hope of a bounce in the market, only to see the value of its fund fall further.

"A 4.3 per cent loss is disappointing when you are trying to make absolute returns for this charity," said Hibernian's Mr Dara Fitzgerald. All proceeds from the race, which pits the six fund managers against each other and the market, go to the Rehab Group.

Seeing little upside until the situation in the Middle East is clarified, Hibernian, like Setanta, has since moved back into cash where it plans to remain until things start to look up.

The last fund to lose money in January was Bank of Ireland Asset Management (BIAM) although the loss on its single investment in Greencore was a modest 0.7 per cent.

The fund, which is managed by Mr Chris Reilly, remains firmly in the lead at this stage of the race with a gain of 20.5 per cent to date, well ahead of its nearest rival, Irish Life Investment Managers (ILIM), which had a fund value of €107,575 at the end of January. ILIM had a good month, however, posting a gain of 2.7 per cent as it sold out of equities at the beginning of the month and held cash through the worst days of January.

KBC Asset Management, whose money was 75 per cent invested in a fixed interest fund heading into January, also escaped the equity market downturn to come out 0.7 per cent ahead.