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Foreign c.banks' US Treasury holdings down in week-Fed

Thu Jul 9, 2009 4:30pm EDT

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NEW YORK, July 9 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks' holdings of U.S. debt at the Federal Reserve fell overall in the latest week, with drops in both Treasury and agency-related securities, data from the U.S. central bank showed on Thursday.

The combined holdings of Treasuries and agency securities by foreign central banks at the Fed fell $2.892 billion to total $2.779 trillion in the week ended July 8.

Treasuries held by overseas central banks at the Fed fell $892 million to $1.976 trillion.

Holdings of securities issued or guaranteed by the two biggest U.S. mortgage financing sources, Fannie Mae (FNM.P) and Freddie Mac (FRE.P), fell $2.001 billion to $803.289 billion in the latest week.

Overseas central banks, particularly in Asia, have been huge buyers of U.S. debt in recent years and own more than a quarter of marketable Treasuries. China recently overtook Japan as the biggest such buyer.

The full Fed report can be found on: here

(Reporting by Burton Frierson, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)



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