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Gold to hit record 1,300 dollars in 2010: GFMS consultancy

Hong Kong gold closes higher

great minds think alike..keke

Soros favored gold, may have sold Petrobras in Q2

By Aaron Pressman

BOSTON (Reuters) - Billionaire investor George Soros in the second quarter stuck with his big bet on gold but may have sold his holdings in Petroleo Brasileiro SA (Sao Paolo:PETR4.SA - News; NYSE:PBR - News).

In a quarterly securities filing on Monday, Soros Fund Management reported owning substantially fewer U.S. listed stocks than three months earlier. The fund listed $5.1 billion of equities as of June 30, down 42 percent from $8.8 billion at the end of March.

The fund firm said it owned 5.24 million shares of the SPDR Gold Trust (Pacific:GLD - News) worth $638 million as of June 30. Though down slightly from the fund's 5.59 million shares owned at the end of the first quarter, that was the fund's biggest holding by dollar value.

With the sale of so many other holdings, the Gold ETF constituted almost 13 percent of the firm's total equities, up from 7 percent at the end of the first quarter.

There was no sign in the filing of Soros's largest holding from the first quarter, Brazilian oil giant Petrobras. The fund owned almost 15 million shares as of March 31.

Other first quarter top holdings including energy producers Hess Corp (NYSE:HES - News) and Suncor Energy (Toronto:SU.TO - News) and telecommunications giant Verizon Communications (NYSE:VZ - News) were slashed. At the end of the second quarter he had $1.5 million worth of Hess, down from $302.5 million, $13.6 million of Suncor, down from $285.3 million and $395,000 worth of Verizon, down from $175.1 million.

Soros does not typically explain his quarter-to-quarter moves. A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.

Money managers can leave stocks out of their quarterly reports or seek confidential treatment if they are actively trading in the shares.

The disappearance of Petrobras from the Soros filing comes as the state-owned oil producer has wrestled with a huge capital raising plan that also includes buying rights to billions of barrels of offshore oil from the government. In June, the company delayed the planned share sale and oil swap from July until September.

Money managers like Soros are required to file form 13-F within 45 days after the end of each quarter. The forms include only U.S.-listed equity securities and related derivatives. Bonds, other securities and short positions are typically not disclosed.

 

By Lewa Pardomuan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Gold rose to its strongest in more than a month on Monday as pessimism about the global economic recovery sparked buying from investors, but selling from jewellers could cap gains.

Holdings in the world's largest bullion-backed ETF, SPDR Gold Trust, were unchanged, suggesting that some investors were happy to hold on to bullion after recent U.S. economic data pointed to weakness in the economy.

Spot gold added $5.60 to $1,220.10 an ounce by 0634 GMT, having hit an intraday day high of $1,220.60 -- its highest since July 2. Bullion struck a record around $1,264 in June.

For a 24-hour gold technical outlook, see: here

"Our in-house analysts have been bullish on gold because of the state of the global economy," said a physical dealer in Singapore who trades gold bars. "They are still looking at gold reaching $1,300 and they want us to buy gold on dips."

"But we do see selling from the physical side because they are price sensitive. There is selling from Thailand and Indonesia. I guess the buying is more from investors, and not from jewellers."

U.S. gold futures for December delivery rose $5.7 to $1,222.3 an ounce, extending Friday's gains, when weak U.S. economic data prompted investors to buy gold as an alternative investment.

Japan's Nikkei average ticked down on Monday as figures showed Japan's economy slowed sharply from the previous two quarters and after U.S. stocks closed out their worst week in six with a whimper on Friday on poor economic data.

Despite the current uptrend in the gold market, some investors might have factored in the bad news from the United States and may start looking for fresh impetus to help bullion challenge a July high of around $1,222.

"For the next two weeks we expect gold to trade in a range between $1,180 and $1,240 an ounce. The downside gets very critical only once the metal falls below the $1,150 mark," said Heraeus in a report, referring to a low seen in April.

"It will be important to see how the investors behave after the summer recess and whether they will return to the market again as buyers."

The euro edged up 0.3 percent against the dollar to $1.2795, having pared its losses after dipping to $1.2734 on trading platform EBS earlier on Monday, its lowest against the dollar in almost a month.

Oil prices edged higher towards $76 on Monday, boosted by a weaker dollar, while a fall in Asian stock markets on news of a slowdown in Japan's economic growth restricted gains.