Foreign c.banks buy Treasuries, sell agencies -Fed

NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks were net buyers of U.S. Treasuries last week but overall decreased their holdings of U.S. debt through sales of agency securities, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The Fed said its holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks fell $1.31 billion in the week ended Sept. 5 to total $1.981 trillion.

The breakdown of custody holdings showed overseas central banks bought $3.67 billion in Treasury debt, increasing their total to $1.210 trillion.

However, the foreign institutions sold securities from government-sponsored agencies such as Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), subtracting $4.97 billion from their holdings, to stand at a total $770.8 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