(Yicai) Aug. 16 -- China, the US’ second-largest creditor, reduced its holdings of US Treasury bonds in June for the third month running.

China pared its ownership of US Treasuries by USD11.3 billion in June from the previous month to USD835.4 billion, according to data released yesterday by the US Department of Treasury. Its holdings of US debt have stayed below USD1 trillion since April last year.

China trimmed its holdings for seven straight months from August last year to February, then increased them by USD20.3 billion in March, but has resumed selling US debt after that.

Japan, the US’ biggest creditor, bought more US Treasuries in June, adding USD8.8 billion to bring the total to USD1.1 trillion. It sold USD30.4 billion in May, trimming its holdings for the first time since February.

The UK, which is the third largest creditor, also increased its ownership of US debt in June by USD11.9 billion to USD672.3 billion.

June saw a reversal of May’s net outflow of USD167.6 billion, with USD147.8 billion flowing into the country’s long- and short-term securities and bank accounts from foreign sources, according to the US Treasury. This included USD119.8 billion from private sources and USD28 billion from government sources.

Editor: Kim Taylor