China's holdings of U.S. Treasury securities fell in July, while Japan increased its possession slightly.
China's holdings of the U.S. treasuries dropped by about 30.4 billion U.S. dollars to 1.2408 trillion U.S. dollars in July, the latest data from the Treasury Department showed Wednesday.
China's foreign exchange reserves fell to 3.56 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of August, down 93.9 billion U.S. dollars, marking the fourth consecutive month of falling forex reserves, according to the People's Bank of China (PBOC).
The PBOC attributed the drop partly to the falling prices of major financial assets on the global market, and its market operations to provide enough liquidity, as commercial banks, companies and individuals held more foreign currencies following a sharp depreciation of the yuan, the Chinese currency, in August.
Japan, the second largest foreign holder of U.S. treasuries, increased its holdings by 400 million dollars to 1.1975 trillion dollars in July, after cutting its holdings for three months in a row.
In July, overall foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities fell to 6.0766 trillion U.S. dollars from June's 6.1752 trillion dollars.
