Foreign central banks cut holdings of US debt -Fed

NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks reduced their overall holdings of U.S. debt last week, with a steep decline in Treasury bonds offsetting a rise in agency securities, U.S. Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The Fed said its holdings of U.S. debt kept for overseas central banks slipped $2.89 billion in the week ended May 21, to stand at a total of $2.281 trillion.

The foreign institutions sold $12.32 billion in Treasury debt, leaving the total at $1.340 trillion. This move was countered with purchases of bonds from government-sponsored agencies like Fannie Mae FNM.N and Freddie Mac FRE.N, which brought such holdings to a record $941.36 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 Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by James Dalgleish)