The world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, New York's SPDR Gold Trust (GLD), reported that its holdings fell 21.7 tonnes or 1.9 percent in January, against a rise of 63.36 tonnes or 8.1 percent in the same month of 2009.

The press release is quoted as saying:

Data showed the trust, which issues securities backed by physical stocks of gold, held 1,111.922 tonnes of bullion on Friday, the last trading day of January, against 1,133.622 tonnes on Dec. 31.

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