Gold ETF investors hang tight in US

Amid the second-largest gold sell-off since 1983, the casual observer could be forgiven for thinking that investors were dumping bullion in droves.

Initial data suggests otherwise.

The loss of confidence that caused gold prices to fall 10 percent in the four days through Monday has not yet unnerved investors in the leading gold exchange traded fund in the US, nor caused futures traders to close out positions en masse, figures show.

The resilience of retail and professional traders in the face of heavy selling - much of it said stemming from hedge funds eager to dress up end-of-quarter performance or pay margin calls in other markets - supports the idea that bullion's shudder was a correction, not the end of its run.

It also appears to run counter to some speculation that one or another of the big institutional holders of the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold ETF, might have been liquidated. John Paulson's hedge fund held 7.6 percent of the $65 billion fund as of June 30, data show.

Physical gold holdings by the SPDR dipped only 0.8 percent during gold's four-day slump, despite prices falling by as much as 15 percent over that period, according to the latest holdings data released on Tuesday.

At its lowest, gold was down more than 20 percent since a record high just four weeks ago.

Text: Reuters

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