American billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Thursday he remains negative on prospects for the U.S. dollar and that problems in the U.S. subprime mortgage sector may continue to cause problems for some time.
Buffett said he is still "negative on the dollar relative to most major currencies." He said subprime problems could weigh on consumers for anywhere from another six months to two years. He made the comments during a press conference during his first visit to South Korea.
The dollar has fallen against the yen, euro, British pound, India rupee and many other Asian and European currencies this year. The euro , for example, has gained 8% against the dollar this year.
Buffett also said that his company Berkshire Hathaway owns the equivalent of 3.4 million shares in South Korean steelmaker POSCO .
In March, Buffett said in his annual letter that Berkshire in 2006 bought 3.49 million shares, or 4%, of South Korean steelmaker Posco. Berkshire spent $572 million on the POSCO shares, which were worth $1.16 billion at the end of 2006.
That would be worth considerably more now as POSCO have more than doubled this year.
Buffett came to Daegu, located about 300 kilometers southwest of Seoul, to inspect Iscar Korea, a subsidiary of Iscar, the Israeli industrial tool manufacturer he purchased last year for $4 billion, his first overseas acquisition.
He arrived from China in his private plane.