billionaire investor george soros's hedge fund dumped most of its gold holdings during the first quarter.
New york-based soros fund management owned just 49,400 shares of the spdr gold trust at the end of march, down from 4.7 million shares held at the end of december. A 5 million share stake in the ishares gold trust at the end of december disappeared completely from the latest filing.
the gold etf positions were valued at over $774 million at the end of the fourth quarter, by far the firm's largest position at that time. At the end of the first quarter, the remaining gold position was worth less than $7 million.

Soros also slashed stakes in gold and silver mining companies during the first quarter. The firm owned 1.4 million shares of kinross gold at the end of the quarter, down from 4 million shares three months earlier. Holdings in novagold resources dropped to 3.5 million shares from 12.9 million.

and the filing included no listing for pan american silver after soros reported owning 19,900 shares three months earlier. the disappearance typically means the stake was sold off completely, although firms occasionally can omit listing positions that are being actively traded