Cliff Asness, Co-Founder, Managing Principal and Chief Investment Officer of AQR Capital Management, speaks at the Milken Institute Global Conference in Beverly Hills, California, U.S., May 2, 2016. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson/File Photo

By Nell Mackenzie

LONDON (Reuters) -Billionaire investor Cliff Asness's AQR Capital Management finished the third quarter with positive returns in several of its funds, a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

The $165 billion hedge fund gained 4.0% in September in its flagship multi-strategy fund, Apex Strategy, which has generated a 15.6% return from the start of the year to September 30.

The fund posted a 2.9% return for the month in its AQR Delphi Long-Short Equity Strategy, bringing the overall performance to a positive 14.3% for the year. AQR's Managed Futures Full Volatility Strategy posted a 9.3% return for the month of September, garnering a 17.7% return year-to-date.

The hedge fund's Helix Strategy, which follows trends in a diverse set of harder-to-access markets, had a positive 6.3% performance for the month of September and is up 13% for the year to date.

These results beat a wider collection of systematic hedge funds, whose algorithms ride market trends until they peter out. An index that tracks these kinds of trend funds is down on average over 2% for the year so far, according to Societe Generale's indices.

(Reporting by Nell Mackenzie; Editing by Anirban Sen and Franklin Paul)