Foreign holdings of US Treasury debt keep increasing in May

Foreign buyers continued to increase their holdings of U.S. Treasury securities for a 10th straight month in May, with the two largest holders increasing their shares, U.S. Treasury Department said Wednesday.

The total foreign holdings rose to another record high of 5.976 trillion U.S. dollars in May, up 0.25 percent from that in April, the department said in the Treasury International Capital report.

China, the largest foreign buyer of the Treasury debt, increased its holdings by 7.7 billion dollars to 1.2709 trillion dollars, while Japan, the second largest holder, bought 10.4 billion dollars to 1.2201 trillion dollars, the report showed.

Belgium, the No. 3 investor in U.S. Treasurys, slipped 1.1 percent to 362.4 billion dollars, the monthly Treasury report showed.

Russia slashed its holdings by 4.3 percent to 111.4 billion dollars, well below the recent high of 149.9 billion dollars in October, it showed.