U.S. Fed buys $6.4 bln mortgage bonds, sells none

NEW YORK, March 15 (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Reserve bought $6.40 billion in agency mortgage-backed securities from March 8-14, compared with $6.85 billion in the previous week, the New York Federal Reserve said on Thursday.

The central bank sold no mortgage securities guaranteed by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac or the Government National Mortgage Association (Ginnie Mae) in the latest week, compared with $850 million the prior week, the New York Fed said on its website.

From the start of October, the Fed began to use the funds from principal payments on the agency debt and agency MBS it holds to reinvest in agency MBS in an effort to hold down mortgage interest rates and support the U.S. housing market.