April 19 (Reuters) - Britain's Man Group reported a 4.89% increase in its assets under management for the first quarter of the year on Friday, thanks to a positive performance in most of its strategies that compensated for negative net flows from clients.

The hedge fund's assets under management rose to $175.7 billion by the end of March, from $167.5 billion at Dec. 31.

Last year proved challenging for hedge funds such as Man Group which use systematic strategies to catch consistent market trends.

The firm experienced an increase of $9.8 billion in its investment performance, compensating for negative net client flows of $1.6 billion.

Two of Man Group's trend following funds, AHL Alpha and AHL Diversified, posted positive returns, net of fees, of 6.9% and 12.1% respectively in the first quarter, after a negative performance in the last quarter of 2023. (Reporting by Eva Mathews in Bengaluru, Andres Gonzalez in London; Editing by Savio D'Souza, Kirsten Donovan)