Foreign central banks' US debt holdings rise: Fed

Foreign central banks' holdings of US Treasuries and agency debt at the Federal Reserve rose in the latest week, data from the US central bank showed on Thursday. The combined holdings of Treasuries and agency securities by foreign central banks at the Fed rose $29.63 billion to a total of $3.009 trillion in the week ended March 17.
Treasuries held by overseas central banks at the Fed rose $27.498 billion to total $2.236 trillion. Foreign central banks' holdings of securities issued or guaranteed by the two biggest US mortgage financing agencies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rose by $2.14 billion to $773.11 billion in the latest week. Overseas central banks, particularly in Asia, have been huge buyers of US debt in recent years and own more than a quarter of marketable Treasuries. Japan and China are the biggest such buyers.