Legendary US billionaire Warren Buffett said in an interview that he has for the first time taken positions in foreign currencies amid concerns about a weak dollar.
"Through the spring of 2002, I had lived nearly 72 years without purchasing a foreign currency," he told Fortune magazine.
The "Sage of Omaha," so called for the city in which his investment group, Berkshire Hathaway, is based, said in the online edition of Fortune over the weekend that he had invested in "several currencies" as a hedge against any fall in the dollar.
"To hold other currencies is to believe that the dollar will decline," Buffett underlined.
Buffett said the mounting US trade deficit, a sign that the US might be living beyond its means, had prompted the purchases.
"Since then, Berkshire has made significant investments in -- and today holds -- several currencies," the US' second-richest man revealed.
He noted that "our country's `net worth' so to speak, is now being transfered abroad at an alarming rate."
Buffett gave no details of which currencies he had bought, or in what volumes.
The US trade deficit shrank marginally in August by 2.1 percent to US$39.2 billion. However, it hit a record US$324.4 billion for the eight-month period to the end of August.
Forbes depicts Buffett as a man of simple tastes with a liking for hamburgers who also just happens to be worth US$36 billion.
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