PetroChina shares spiral as Buffet sells

PetroChina<857> shares tumbled as much as 5.44% yesterday after investors got wind that American billionaire Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway sold 0.72% of its holding.

Shares of the oil titan traded as low as HK$11.12 yesterday before closing 3.2% lower at HK$11.38. Some HK$42.5 billion worth of shares changed hands.

Analysts from BOC International research said that while the reason for Mr Buffet鈥檚 decision to shed its holding by such a small amount it is not clear, "The uncertainty as to whether he will dispose of further shares will have a short-term impact to the share price," South China Morning post reported.

Berkshire, PetroChina's second-largest shareholder after the mainland government, sold 16.9 million H shares in PetroChina at an average price of HK$12.44 each on Jul. 12 HK$210.23 million.

The world's second-largest listed oil company by market value, PetroChina is engaged in a range of petroleum-related activities through its four business segments: Exploration and Production, Refining and Marketing, Chemicals and Marketing, and Natural Gas and Pipeline.