Buffett goes on buying spree in 3Q

Billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. accelerated its buying spree of stocks during the third quarter of this year, pushing investment up to hit more than 23 billion dollars.

During the three months to September 30, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway invested 6.9 billion dollars in U. S. stocks; 5 billion dollars in preferred shares & Bank of America warrants and 8.7 billion dollars to acquire specialty chemical firm Lubrizol Corp.

Investment of around 7 billion dollars in equity securities during the third quarter was almost double than its investment of 3.62 billion dollars during the previous quarter. In the first quarter, the company spent only 834 million dollars in equity securities.

Speaking on the increased investment by Berkshire Hathaway, analyst Greggory Warren from Morningstar said, "That's a better jump than we've seen from them in a while.”

Berkshire recently reported a drop of 24 per cent in earnings during the third quarter to $2.3 billion, mainly due to a fall in value of its holdings along with a $1.6 billion loss on derivatives.

However, analyst Cliff Gallant of Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, said most of the losses on derivative had been reversed by the recovery in stocks in October.

Shares in Berkshire Hathaway were trading at a loss of just less than 1 per cent by midday on Monday.