George Soros dumps gold...Paulson stays put

Billionaire investor George Soros's hedge fund exited most of its positions in physical gold in the first quarter of 2011 but hedge-fund manager John Paulson remained invested in the yellow metal amid bets that the rally would continue.

Soros Fund Management, based in New York, owned 49,400 shares of the SPDR Gold Trust at the end of March, down from 4.7 million shares held at the end of December.



Soros Fund sold off all it's 5 million shares in the iShares Gold Trust during the January to March quarter, according to the latest filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Soros got out weeks before gold hit a nominal record high of over US$1,575 on May 2. But he also avoided the subsequent sharp sell-off in gold and other commodities.

Soros also slashed stakes in gold and silver mining companies during the first quarter. He sold 9.41mn shares of NovaGold Resources and 2.58mn shares of Kinross, while buying 301,300 shares of Freeport and 7,600 shares of Goldcorp, the filing shows.

Meanwhile, Paulson & Co. maintained 31.5mn shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, and boosted holdings of mining companies, including Barrick Gold Corp. and Gold Fields Ltd., its regulatory filing showed.

Gold ETP holdings declined 69.94 tons, or 3.3%, in the first quarter, the first drop in a year, as prices increased 0.8%. Silver holdings rose 1.9%, palladium assets fell 1%, while platinum holdings gained 12%.