See below...interesting timing!!
BOSTON, April 9 (Reuter) - Several Fidelity Investments
mutual funds cut their exposure to Bre-X Minerals Ltd and
associated companies in February, just weeks before the firms'
shares crumbled.
According to Fidelity's monthly mutual fund guide, the $135
million Fidelity Canada Fund cut its holdings in Bre-X parent
Bresea Resources Ltd from its top 10 stock holdings in
February, the most recent date figures are available.
Fidelity's $320 million American Gold Fund and its $242
million Precious Metals & Minerals Fund both cut Bre-X from
their top 10 holdings in February after being among their
favorite shares in January.
Shares in Bre-X and its associated companies dived in late
March after the Canadian company reported that deposits in its
Busang gold mine in Indonesia, billed as the largest find this
century, would fall far short of expectations.
Fidelity was one of the largest institutional holders of
Bre-X, but the mutual fund company apparently cut a large part
of its holdings in February.
Fidelity held 7.62 percent, or 50 million shares, of Bre-X
at the end of 1996, Fidelity spokeswoman Robyn Tice said.
"Our holdings are sigificantly less, a fraction of what
they were at the end of the year," she said.
Fifteen Fidelity funds, including Contrafund, Growth
Company and Overseas, had a stake in Bre-X or its associated
companies at the end of March when news of the Indonesian find
hit the markets, she said.
But only five of Fidelity's mutual funds were affected by
losses of more than 0.5 percent at the end of March, she said.
((Michael Ellis, Boston bureau (617) 367-4176)) |
