NEW YORK - Paulson & Co, led by longtime gold bull John Paulson, kept its stake in gold investments during the third quarter of 2018 while other heavyweights including Soros Fund Management LLC, Jana Partners LLC and Caxton Corp remained unexposed to the metal.
With investors continuing to favor the U.S. dollar and riskier assets against the backdrop of a global trade war, New York-based Paulson & Co maintained its stake as spot gold prices declined more than 5%Paulson left its interest in SPDR Gold Trust unchanged at 4.3 million shares for the third quarter, though the value decreased to $487.13 million from $512.57 million in the prior quarter, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission 13F-HR filing showed on Wednesday.
SPDR Gold Trust is the world's biggest gold exchange-traded fund.
Paulson left stakes unchanged in mining company AngloGold Ashanti Ltd though the value increased from $104.94 million in the second quarter to $109.67 million in the third quarter.
Stakes in IAMGOLD Corp held by Paulson were unchanged but the value decreased by more than a third to $6.81 million from $10.75 million in the second quarter.
Paulson's shares in NovaGold Resources Inc were unchanged, though the value decreased from $97.87 million to $81.59 million in the third quarter.
Shares in Randgold Resources Ltd held by Paulson increased from 331.70 million worth $25.57 million in the second quarter to 421.70 million shares worth $29.75 million in the third quarter.
Meanwhile, Soros Fund Management LLC, the firm that invests the personal fortune of billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros, has not held gold since liquidating its holdings in the fourth quarter of 2016.
Led by activist investor Barry Rosenstein, Jana Partners LLC held no exposure to ETFs invested directly in gold at the end of the third quarter, after initially dissolving its stake in SPDR Gold Trust during the second quarter of 2016.
CI Investments Inc slightly boosted its holding in SPDR Gold Trust during the third quarter.
Quarterly disclosures of hedge fund managers' stock holdings, in what are known as 13F filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, are one of the few public ways of tracking what managers are selling and buying.
Relying on the filings to develop an investment strategy, however, comes with some risk because the disclosures come 45 days after the end of each quarter and may not reflect current positions. Still, the filings offer a glimpse into what hedge fund managers saw as good investment opportunities.
(By Renita D. Young; Editing by Trevor Hunnicutt, Tom Brown and Chris Reese)