HONG KONG (Reuters) -China is encouraging long-term investors to buy more equities and major shareholders of listed firms to increase their holdings when stocks slump, in a bid to stabilise a stock market rocked by a worsening COVID-19 outbreak.

Asian shares were down while the U.S. dollar held strong on Tuesday, as Treasury yields spiked to a three year high ahead of U.S. inflation data which could foreshadow even more aggressive interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve.

(Reuters) -Oil prices climbed on Tuesday as fears of a demand downturn in China eased after Shanghai relaxed some COVID-19 related restrictions, and OPEC warned it would be impossible to increase output enough to offset lost Russian supply.

Oil futures rose early on Tuesday, reversing sharp losses from the prior day, as the market weighed the potential for more sanctions on Russia's energy sector and OPEC warned it would be impossible to increase output enough to offset lost supply.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japan's wholesale inflation remained near record-high levels in March as the Ukraine crisis and a weak yen pushed up fuel and raw material costs, data showed on Tuesday, adding strains to the resource-poor economy heavily reliant on imports.

Warren Buffett needed just two weeks to put together Berkshire Hathaway Inc's $11.6 billion takeover of Alleghany Corp, its largest acquisition in six years, even as he balked at paying the insurer's banking fee, a regulatory filing on Monday shows.