Shares of Japan's five largest sogo shosha rose on Thursday following remarks from Berkshire Hathaway chief Greg Abel that the hedge fund is weighing deeper investments in the group. The market reaction was led by Mitsubishi Corp, which gained more than 5% on the session.
Other major trading houses also advanced, with Itochu, Mitsui, Sumitomo, and Marubeni posting increases in a range between 2.6% and 4.2%. The collective improvement across these stocks, which represent a sizeable portion of Japanese equity markets, contributed to a 0.3% uptick in the Nikkei 225 index.
In comments to CNBC delivered separately from the Nikkei interview, Abel addressed the recent rise in Japanese government bond yields to multi-decade highs. He said that the surge in yields was manageable for the big trading firms, a view that market participants interpreted as removing a significant overhang on Japanese stocks.
Among the five trading houses, Berkshire held its largest individual stake in Mitsubishi - at 10.8% as of end-2025. Across all five companies, the firm had a combined holding valued at $35.37 billion as of end-2025.
The remarks and ensuing buying highlight how a single investor's signalling - in this case from Berkshire's CEO - can influence sentiment for a targeted set of industrial conglomerates. The market reaction on Thursday underlined investor sensitivity to potential changes in ownership and to reassurances about interest-rate related risks for firms with broad commodity, trading and investment exposures.
Market context and mechanics
Trading-house stocks typically reflect a mix of commodity flows, investment portfolios and global trading activity. The comments about bond yields being manageable were directly tied to assessments of how higher rates could affect those portfolios and earnings. The session's gains for Mitsubishi, Itochu, Mitsui, Sumitomo and Marubeni followed Abel's interviews and were sizable enough to influence the broader market index.
What was reported
- Greg Abel told Nikkei that the hedge fund is considering deepening its positions in the five largest Japanese trading houses.
- Mitsubishi Corp rose by over 5% on Thursday.
- Itochu, Mitsui, Sumitomo and Marubeni each climbed between 2.6% and 4.2%.
- Berkshire held the biggest stake in Mitsubishi at 10.8% as of end-2025 and had a combined $35.37 billion in the five as of end-2025.
- The Nikkei 225 index increased by 0.3% during the session.