“Prominent hedge fund manager John Paulson continued to hold significant gold investments in the fourth quarter of 2012, even as other investors pulled out.
Notable institutional investors, including George Soros, Julian Robertson and Allianz’s Pimco reduced their bets on gold during the quarter, when bullion posted its biggest quarterly loss in more than four years.
Paulson & Co owned 21.8 million shares in the world’s largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, SPDR Gold Trust, at the end of December, unchanged from Sept. 30, a filing with the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission showed on Thursday.
“That’s a good sign as he’s a big player. It shows that he still has long-term faith in the market,” said Bill O’Neill, a partner in commodities investment firm LOGIC Advisors.
Paulson is by far the biggest shareholder of the SPDR gold ETF. He has often advocated gold to offset risks related to currency exposure and U.S. dollar depreciation.
The value of Paulson’s SPDR ETF holdings, however, dropped to $3.54 billion in the fourth quarter from $3.75 billion in the third, resulting in a paper loss of $215.5 million for his fund.
The decline was because of a 5 percent, or $100, drop in the price of spot gold during the fourth quarter.
Some analysts cited year-end hedge fund redemption for gold’s pullback in the quarter….”
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