Foreign central banks sell some US Treasuries-Fed
Thu Oct 7, 2004 04:30 PM ET
NEW YORK, Oct 7 (Reuters) - Foreign central banks became sellers of U.S. Treasuries in the latest week, cutting into the annual pace of their accumulation of U.S. debt, the Federal Reserve reported on Thursday.
The Fed said its overall holdings of Treasury and agency debt kept for overseas central banks fell $2.107 billion to $1.289 trillion in the week ending Oct. 6. Total custody holdings are still up $216 billion for the year-to-date, though the pace of gains has slowed notably in recent weeks.
The breakdown of custody holdings showed overseas central banks sold a net $3.878 billion of Treasuries. Offshore central banks hold $1.045 trillion-worth of Treasuries, or around 29 percent of the entire U.S. government debt held in public hands.
In contrast, overseas central banks bought $1.771 billion of agency debt.
Marketable securities held in custody by the Fed for foreign official and international accounts (in millions of dollars):
Week to Oct 6 vs prior wk vs 2003 wk
Total 1,289,034 -2,107 +298,244
Treasury debt 1,045,201 -3,878 +246,684
Federal agency 243,833 +1,771 +51,561
Average of daily custody holdings:
Total 1,292,097 +517 +300,329
Treasury debt 1,049,404 +1,765 +250,737
Federal agency 242,694 -1,247 +49,593 |
