#Soros and #Paulson funds remain bullish on #gold

Soros raises gold ETF holdings by half, nearly triples Freeport stake
While the Soros and Paulson funds remain bullish on gold, major gold ETF shareholder Windhaven dropped its SPDR Gold holdings during the third quarter. Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted: Friday , 16 Nov 2012

RENO (MINEWEB) -

Billionaire fund manager George Soros increased his stake by half in the SPDR Gold Trust while fellow billionaire fund manager John Paul maintained his holding in the world’s largest gold bullion-backed ETF.

However, Paulson reduced his position in Gold Fields, while Soros Fund Management nearly tripled its position in Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, SEC filings showed Thursday.

During the third quarter, Soros Fund Management raised its interest in SPDR Gold shares from 884,400 shares in the second quarter to 1.3 million shares.

Over the same period, the fund also upped its holdings in the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF from 1 million shares in the second quarter to 2,325,000 shares in the third quarter. However, the fund only maintained its holdings in Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF at nearly 2.4 million shares.

Meanwhile, Soros Fund Management’s holdings in Freeport-McMoRan increased from 385,000 shares in the second quarter to 1,295,558 shares in the third quarters.

During the third quarter, Soros invested in Molycorp, but apparently sold its Newmont holdings. The fund sold its second-quarter holdings in PotashCorp , but bought 4.4 million shares in coal company Peabody Energy in the third quarter.

SEC records show that Soros also added Kinross Gold to its portfolio at 1,766,019 shares during the third quarter. However, the fund dropped molybdenum miner Thompson Creek from its portfolio during the same period.

During the third quarter Paulson & Co. maintained its holdings in Agnico-Eagle Mines, Allied Nevada Gold, Barrick Gold, Iamgold, NovaGold and Randgold Resources Ltd.

However, it reduced its holdings in AngloGold Ashanti by 13% from 32,761,921 shares in the second quarter to 28,403,545 shares in the third quarter. Nevertheless, AngloGold Ashanti remains one of the fund’s largest holdings.

Paulson also reduced its stake in Gold Fields from 18,038,600 shares in the second quarter to 6,541,600 shares in the third quarter.

The fund increased its holdings in gold junior International Tower Hill Mines from 5,103,500 shares in the second quarter to 8,949,654 shares in the third quarter.

Paulson's holdings in NovaCopper were reduced slightly from 5,995,077 shares in the second quarter to 5,921,608 shares in the third quarter.

The fund also stood pat on its SPDR Gold Trust investment at 21,837,552 shares.

Meanwhile, a third major fund, Windhaven Investment Management, substantially increased its holdings in the ISHARES Gold Trust by nearly 500% during the third quarter. Windhaven upped its investment in the ISHARES Gold Trust from 4,237,713 shares in the second quarter to 25,107,965 shares in the third quarter.

However, Windhaven substantially decreased its investment in the SPDR Gold Trust from 3,847,555 shares in the second quarter to 2,060,732 shares in the third quarter.

Read the article online here: Soros raises gold ETF holdings by half, nearly triples Freeport stake - GOLD NEWS - Mineweb.com Mineweb