Billionaire George Soros sold most of his physical gold holdings in the first quarter as bullion prices rallied toward a record, while hedge-fund manager John Paulson retained his stake in a bet the rally would continue.
Soros Fund Management LLC sold 99 percent of its holding in the bullion-backed SPDR Gold Trust, all 5 million shares in the iShares Gold Trust and cut stakes in NovaGold Resources Inc. and Kinross Gold Corp., a government filing yesterday showed. Paulson & Co. maintained 31.5 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, and boosted holdings of mining companies including Barrick Gold Corp. and Gold Fields Ltd., its filing showed.
