Foreign central banks raise US debt holdings - Fed

NEW YORK, July 3 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks were net buyers of U.S. Treasury debt in the latest week, boosting their overall U.S. debt holdings despite a decline in their holdings of agency securities, U.S. Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.

The Fed said its holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks rose $13.24 billion in the week ended July 2, to stand at $2.347 trillion.

The breakdown showed overseas central banks bought $15.40 billion in Treasury debt, putting the total at $1.377 trillion.

However, foreign institutions sold securities from government-sponsored agencies like Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research), subtracting $2.16 billion from those holdings, which now stand at $969.95 billion.

Overseas central banks, particularly those in Asia, have been huge buyers of U.S. debt in recent years, and own over a quarter of marketable Treasuries.

The full Fed report can be found on:

here (Reporting by Burton Frierson; Editing by Dan Grebler)