(Yicai) March 20 -- China, the United States’ second-largest creditor, cut its holdings of US Treasury bonds in January, ending a two-month increase.

China’s holdings of US Treasuries fell by USD18.6 billion to USD797.7 billion in January from the previous month, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury yesterday.

China slightly increased its holdings of US Treasury bonds in March last year, cut them for seven straight months between last April and October, and then hiked them again in November and December.

Japan, the US largest creditor, increased its holdings of US Treasuries by USD14.9 billion to USD1.1531 trillion in January from the previous month. Meanwhile, the United Kingdom, the US third-biggest creditor, cut its holdings by about USD200 million to USD753.5 billion.

The net foreign inflow into short- and long-term US securities and bank flows stood at USD8.8 billion in January, the data from the US Department of the Treasury also showed. The net inflow of official funds was CNY18.1 billion, and the net outflow of private funds was CNY26.9 billion.

Editor: Futura Costaglione