CHINA’S holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds in October hit the lowest in a year, but the country remained the largest foreign buyer of U.S. government debt, statistics released Monday by the U.S. Treasury Department showed.

China’s holdings of U.S. Treasuries totaled US$1.139 trillion in October, down by US$12.5 billion from the previous month.

The world’s second-largest economy has cut its Treasury positions for five straight months.

The statistics also showed that Japan, the second largest foreign buyer, is a net seller of U.S. Treasuries in October, with its holdings slipping to a one-year low of US$1.019 trillion, down by US$9.5 billion from the previous month and marking the third consecutive month of paring.

Japan also reduced its U.S. Treasury holdings to US$1.018 trillion from US$1.028 trillion in September.

The two countries together still accounted for about a third of the total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury bonds, which saw a net foreign outflow of US$25.6 billion in October.

Washington has increased the issuance of its government bonds since the massive corporate tax cut was enacted last December.

Business insiders have warned of imbalance between demand and supply.

The report also showed foreigners in October bought net long-term U.S. securities for a fourth straight month, totaling US$31.3 billion, up from US$30.8 billion in September.

Foreigners, however, sold US$22.16 billion in U.S. stocks in October, up from US$16.91 billion in September, selling for six straight months.

(SD-Xinhua)