Hedge funds around the world pulled in a net $24 billion in the first quarter as investors flocked to companies such as Convexity Capital Management, owned by former Harvard University endowment manager Jack Meyer.

The inflows followed withdrawals of $824 million in last year’s fourth quarter, according to a report by Chicago based Hedge Fund Research published yesterday. Stock hedge funds attracted $8.1 billion, the largest amount of any category.

Managers lured investors with improved returns, helped by a rally in stocks as well as commodities such as oil and gold. The average fund gained 5.85%, compared with 9.4% for all of last year. About a quarter of all net deposits went to Boston-based Convexity, which raised a record $6 billion.

“The strength of the global equity markets, along with dynamic movements in commodities, energy, and related securities, created a favorable trading environment,” the president of Hedge Fund Research, Josh Rosenberg, said in the statement.

Atticus International fund, which invests in companies going through major corporate events, returned 19%, almost as much as its 20.7% gain last year. Timothy Barakett is the manager.

Paul Jones’s $5.7 billion Tudor BVI fund climbed 5.5%, and Louis Bacon’s Moore Global fund increased 4.8%. Both funds – which follow macroeconomic trends by investing in stocks, bonds, currencies, and commodities – beat the average 2.6% advance of so-called macro funds.

Mr. Meyer started trading at Convexity, his first hedge fund venture, in February with about 30 colleagues from Harvard Management Company and an all-time high in assets for a start-up.

Convexity, a bond manager, received about $500 million from Harvard University. Mohamed El-Erian of Pacific Investment Management Company replaced Mr. Meyer at Harvard Management.

Stock prices jumped 4.2% in the first quarter, as measured by the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index of the largest American companies. That’s almost as much as the S&P 500 rose in all of 2005.

Commodities fared even better. Oil prices jumped from a low of $57.65 a barrel in mid-February to $66.63 at the end of the first quarter, and gold climbed from a low of $527 an ounce in early January to $581 at the end of the March.

Hedge fund assets have more than doubled to $1.2 trillion since 2000, as investors were lured by returns that averaged 16% a year in the 1990s. Hedge funds, loosely regulated pools catering to wealthy investors and institutions, attracted $47 billion in 2005, a decline of 36% from a year earlier and the least since 2001, according to Hedge Fund Research.

Stock hedge funds now have $359 billion in assets. Event-driven funds had inflows of $2.1 billion in the first quarter, bringing the total to $163 billion. The funds, last year’s most popular, trade securities of companies going through big events such as mergers, acquisitions, or management changes.

Macro funds pulled in less than $100 million in the first quarter, compared with outflows of $3.4 billion in the fourth quarter. The strategy now accounts for $121 billion in assets.

Convertible arbitrage funds continued to suffer outflows, with a net $1.8 billion during the first quarter, even as they returned 4.8%.