Foreigners trim long-term US security buys in April

Overseas investors cut back on purchases of long-term US securities in April, the US Treasury said on Friday, as both public and private accounts unloaded mortgage-backed debt. The United States attracted a net long-term capital inflow of $25.6 billion in April after drawing $36 billion in March.
Foreigners stepped up Treasury purchases to $37.3 billion from $20.1 billion in March but were net sellers of securities guaranteed by the biggest US mortgage financing agencies to the tune of $14.1 billion. That was more than double the outflow seen from that sector in March.
As for Treasuries, private investors were more avid buyers in April, accounting for 23.4 billion of the total inflow.
China, the largest foreign US creditor, raised its Treasury holdings slightly to $1.146 trillion from $1.144 trillion, while No 2 Treasury holder Japan cut holdings by $10.2 billion to $1.066 trillion.
Including short-dated assets such as bills, foreigners sold a net $20.5 billion in April, compared with March's downwardly revised net outflow of $48.6 billion.