Tsuen Wan International: George Soros sold off most of his gold in Q1 while Paulson stayed put.

May 17, 2011 - PRLog -- Tsuen Wan International has learned that while billionaire financier George Soros dumped most of his gold ahead of the latest commodity, blamed partly on reports that he was liquidating his holdings, gold bull John Paulson chose to hang on to his bullion. Soros however was joined by other big names including Eric and Paul Touradji.

Soros, who has grabbed headlines with his bullish stance toward the yellow metal in recent years, cut his holdings in the SPDR Gold Trust to only $6.9 billion by the end of the first quarter, compared to the $655 million he held in the previous December.

During the same period he also shed a 5 million share in iShares Gold trust according to SEC filings, where his total holding in gold-backed EFTs in December sat at $774 million, making the most high-profile investors to turn his back on one of the market’s highest-performing assets.

Tsuen Wan International data shows that gold had one of its best ever streaks running up to March, rising for ten consecutive quarters and hitting record highs above $1,400 an ounce.

These gains, lifted by political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa as well as by ongoing concern over indebted European nations, accelerated in April, but peaked in early May reaching a record high of $1,575 an ounce.

John Paulson, who claimed the industry’s largest ever payout last year, kept his 31.5 billion share or $4.4 billion stake in the SPDR fund,  continuing on as the largest shareholder of the globe’s biggest gold-backed exchange traded fund for the quarter, Tsuen Wan International learned from regulatory filings.

# # #

Tsuen Wan International is a leading independent investment company, based in the heart of Hong Kong. Tsuen Wan International offers a variety of investment products for institutional, corporate and high net worth investors in equity debt and FX markets.