HAVING SIGNIFICANTLY CUT HIS HOLDINGS IN OTHER COMPANIES Soros invests in the world's biggest gold maker

Billionaire George Soros has cut his investments by almost 40% in shares of US-listed companies, in the first quarter of 2016, and has instead bought a USD 264 million stake in the world's biggest gold maker, "Barrick Gold" Corp., according to Bloomberg.

The agency notes that the worth of the holdings of Soros' fund, Soros Fund Management, has decreased 37% between January and March 2016, to 3.5 billion dollars.

Soros has acquired 1.7% of "Barrick", a company headquartered in Toronto, whose shares have more than doubled this year, amid cost cutting and debt reduction measures. Just since March 31st, "Barrick" shares have risen 39%.

Soros also revealed he holds "call" options on 1.05 million shares in the SPDR Gold Trust, an ETF which tracks the price of gold.

The American billionaire, who has built a fortune of 24 billion dollars through market investments, is turning to gold as the global economy is faced with risks. Soros recently warned about the risks China's economy could cause, saying that he was reminded of the crisis which affected the US in 2007-2008, generating a global recession.

In this context, investing in gold is seeing increased demand. June delivery gold futures prices rose 0.4% yesterday, at 10:17, on Comex New York, to 1,279.80 dollars an ounce.

In early May, the price of gold passed 1,300 dollars an ounce, amid speculations that the US central bank would slow down the tightening of monetary measures, which have caused the dollar to weaken.

According to "BNP Paribas" SA analysts, the price of gold will rise to 1,400 dollars/ounce this year, and "ABN Amro Group" NV predicts a price of 1,370 dollars/ounce.