In December, the price of spot gold fell to the lowest level in nearly six years at $1,045.85 per ounce, as investors rushed to riskier assets, like equities, ahead of the hike.
Since then, gold has rallied just over 20 percent, hitting $1,260.60 an ounce last Thursday, a one-year high for the biggest surge since September 2011, as concern about global economic growth helped revive gold's safe-haven appeal.
In contrast to Paulson, CI Investments Inc [CIXCI.UL], an investment manager of Toronto-based CI Financial Corp, raised its stake in SPDR to 944,579 shares worth $95.8 million, according to a filing earlier this month.