Hedge funds further abandoned gold in the second quarter

Date: Thursday, August 15, 2013
Author: Clara Denina, Reuters

(Reuters) - Hedge funds further abandoned gold in the second quarter of this year, lightening holdings of the world's biggest gold exchange-traded fund SPDR Gold Trust as spot prices plummeted.

JP Morgan Chase & Co cut its investment in the SPDR Gold Trust fund by 1.6 million shares to 8.6 million, valued at $1.1 billion, as of 30 June, compared with three months earlier, data on the Nasdaq website shows.

Northern Trust Corporation also lowered its investment by 72 percent, or 4.99 million shares to 1.9 million shares, valued at $246.5 million, while Wells Fargo & Company also sold 738,039 shares and are down to 1.4 million, valued at $179 million.

TD Asset Management Inc sold 1.05 million shares, reducing its holdings by 59 percent.

Teacher Retirement System of Texas sold 1.04 million shares in the second quarter, cutting its holdings by 67 percent to 499,593 shares, valued at $64.5 million.

Investor Gruss & Co Inc raised its holdings to 91,030 shares at the end of the second quarter, up from 81,030 at first-quarter end.

Funds report on their quarterly activity within 45 days of the end of the quarter.

Global SPDR gold holdings fell by 14.14 million ounces this year, about $19 billion at current prices.

(This story corrects Gruss & Co holdings to 91,030 shares from 10.84 mln and changes description to investor instead of New York hedge fund; note previously corrected headline to say funds cut gold holdings, not deepen bets against gold, in paragraph 6)