Billionaire investor George Soros has increased his stake in a major global exchange-traded fund backed by gold as prices posted the largest quarterly drop since 2008, The Economic Times business daily reported on Thursday.
Soros Fund Management more than doubled its investment in the SPDR Gold Trust to 884,400 shares as of June 30 compared with the previous three months, a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing for second-quarter holdings showed on Tuesday.
Gold slumped 4 percent in the second quarter, the biggest loss since September 30, 2008. Prices declined as European Central Bank chief Mario Draghi and U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke failed to increase stimulus measures, damping the outlook for global growth and demand for the metal as a hedge against inflation.
Despite the quarterly drop, gold prices have been rising lately amid the escalating eurozone sovereign debt crisis, the inability by Europe’s financial authorities to solve its economic woes and investor expectations of stimulus measures in America and Europe that would drive up inflation and make gold an attractive instrument for investment.
Gold is currently trading at $1,605.68 per troy ounce on international commodity markets after hitting a record high of $1,889 per troy ounce last year.