Foreign central banks buy debt in latest week -Fed

NEW YORK, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks were net buyers of Treasury bonds last week, leading to an increase in their overall holdings of U.S. securities, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The Fed said its holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks rose by $11.83 billion in the week ended Feb. 21, to stand at a total of $1.828 trillion.

The breakdown of custody holdings showed overseas central banks bought $8.29 billion in Treasury debt to stand at a total $1.196 trillion.

The foreign institutions also bought securities from government-sponsored agencies like Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), adding $3.55 billion to their holdings, to stand at a total $632.40 billion.

Overseas central banks, particularly those in Asia, have been huge buyers of U.S. debt in recent years, and own over a quarter of marketable Treasuries.

The full Fed report can be found on:

here