Buffett has indicated that the trading houses themselves have agreed to “moderately” relax a previous ceiling of 10% on his stakes, leaving room for further buying. His purchases in 2020 and 2023 added fuel to broad-based rallies in Japanese equities.
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. increased its stakes in Japan’s biggest trading houses, a move that is expected to offer support to the wider Tokyo stock market.
As foreshadowed three weeks ago in Warren Buffett’s annual letter to shareholders, filings to Japan’s finance ministry on Monday showed that Berkshire raised its stakes in Mitsubishi Corp., Marubeni Corp., Mitsui & Co., Itochu Corp. and Sumitomo Corp. The average holding across the five stocks increased by just over one percentage point to about 9.3%, according to the filings.
