Foreign central banks boost Treasury holdings -Fed
NEW YORK, Aug 7 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks were net buyers of U.S. government bonds in the latest week, but were net sellers of agency securities, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.
The Fed said its combined holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks jumped $24.53 billion in the week ended Aug. 6 to stand at $2.401 trillion.
The breakdown showed overseas central banks bought $25.57 billion in Treasury debt, bringing the total at $1.420 trillion.
Foreign institutions bought securities from government-sponsored agencies like Fannie Mae (FNM.N) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N), reducing $1.05 billion from those holdings to stand at $980.65 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 (Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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