Ex-Goldman, Noble trader's new hedge fund gains 11 pct in September

* The Hong Kong-based hedge fund was launched in August

* Guard Macro Master Fund outperformed peers in September

* The fund has gained 12 percent since launch (Adds details, background, quotes from investor letter)

By Nishant Kumar

LONDON, Oct 14 (Reuters) - Guard Capital, a macro hedge fund firm launched by two former top traders at Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS-PB - news) and Noble Group in August, gained 11.2 percent in value last month as its currency and interest rate bets paid off, a letter to investors obtained by Reuters showed.

Macro hedge funds, which focus on major economic trends and bet anywhere they see value, including stocks, currencies, bonds, commodities and derivatives markets, ended their struggle to make money this year amid a return in volatility in the foreign exchange market last month.

Having languished at record lows until the middle of this year, volatility in the currency market rose sharply in the third quarter, as the dollar rallied and the U.S. Federal Reserve wound down its $4 trillion bond-buying programme.

The Guard Macro Master Fund, which bets mainly on the currency and interest rate markets, outperformed a 1.8 percent gain in the HFRI Macro Index in September. The index tracks returns from macro hedge funds globally.

Returns from early reporting macro hedge funds tracked by Eurekahedge ranged between a loss of 12.7 percent to a gain of 20.33 percent in September. Only three of them gained more than 10 percent, the industry tracker said without disclosing the names of the funds.

Guard Capital joins the likes of Brevan Howard, one of the world's biggest hedge fund managers, in making money last month. Brevan Howard recorded a 4.4 percent gain in its macro hedge fund in September when the hedge fund industry as a whole lost 0.4 percent.

Hong-Kong based Guard Capital was launched by Leland Lim, the former co-head of macro trading for Asia Pacific ex-Japan at Goldman Sachs, and Allan Bedwick, who was the head of macro trading in Asia for Noble Group.

"We participated in the general strengthening of the U.S. dollar, which appreciated 3.85 percent during the month," the hedge fund said in the letter to investors.

"Returns were enhanced by idiosyncratic weakening of the Australian and New Zealand currencies, which depreciated 6.63 percent and 7.33 percent, respectively," it added.

A spokesman for the hedge fund declined to comment.

The fund is up 12 percent in the first two months of launch. (Editing by Simon Jessop and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)