Gold dives on Soros'selloff

 索羅斯拋售黃金

Gold prices plummeted to their lowest level in five weeks on news that billionaire investor George Soros sold most of his gold holdings in the first quarter of this year.

According to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Soros sold most of his gold trust holdings in the first quarter.

By the end of March, Soros Fund Management had cut its SPDR Gold Trust holdings to US$6.9 million from US$655 million in the forth quarter of last year. Soros also dumped 5 million shares, or US$69 million, of iShares Gold Trust.

A stronger dollar also played a role in gold's slide. The dollar has climbed as rising concerns over Europe's debt woes pummel the Euro.

Weak U.S. housing market data released Tuesday also put some additional downward pressure on commodity prices. According to the U.S. Commerce Department figures, new housing construction in April declined 10.6 percent from March.

受到美元持續(xù)走強(qiáng)以及索羅斯大筆拋售黃金等利空因素的打壓，紐約商品交易所黃金期貨價(jià)格17日大幅下挫，跌至近五周以來(lái)的最低水平。

市場(chǎng)分析人士認(rèn)為，資本大鱷索羅斯第一季度大筆拋售黃金的消息對(duì)市場(chǎng)形成了不小的沖擊。索羅斯管理基金公司近日向美國(guó)證交會(huì)遞交的一份文件顯示，今年第一季度該公司已經(jīng)賣出所持有的大部分黃金信托基金股份。

截至3月31日，索羅斯將其在SPDR黃金信托的持倉(cāng)降至690萬(wàn)美元，去年第四季度末他還持有6.55億美元的倉(cāng)位。同時(shí)，索羅斯還結(jié)清了500萬(wàn)份價(jià)值6900萬(wàn)美元的iShares黃金信托的倉(cāng)位。

此外，近期美元的持續(xù)走強(qiáng)，也對(duì)黃金等大宗商品市場(chǎng)形成了巨大壓力。隨著市場(chǎng)對(duì)希臘等歐元區(qū)國(guó)家債務(wù)問(wèn)題的擔(dān)憂不斷加劇，歐元對(duì)美元匯率接連下挫，從而推動(dòng)美元不斷走高，而美元走強(qiáng)則對(duì)黃金等以美元計(jì)價(jià)的大宗商品價(jià)格構(gòu)成利空。

當(dāng)天，美國(guó)商務(wù)部公布的報(bào)告顯示，4月份美國(guó)新房開工量環(huán)比大幅下降10.6%，顯示美國(guó)房地產(chǎn)市場(chǎng)仍然疲軟，這也在一定程度上助推了大宗商品市場(chǎng)的整體下跌。