Berkshire Raises Stakes in Japan’s Largest Trading Houses

The Itochu headquarters in Tokyo.Photographer: Akio Kon/Bloomberg
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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 holdingBloomberg Terminal across the five stocks increased by just over one percentage point to about 9.3%, according to the filings.