China cuts holdings of US government bonds

Beijing, Mar 3(ANI): China has made the first annual diminution in its holdings of US Treasury bonds in ten years.

Experts view this move as an indication that Beijing plans to move away from dollar assets in search of more branched out investment channels.

According to the latest monthly figures from the US Treasury Department, China's holdings of US Treasury bonds dropped for a fifth consecutive month in December to 1.15 trillion dollars. It was the first time that the country had reduced its yearly holdings since 2001.

The number was a revision of a figure released in February, after the Treasury Department adjusted its method of collecting data on foreign holdings of US government bonds, a move aimed at obtaining more information about the use of proxies in buying and holding US securities.

China's June holdings of US Treasury securities have been modified to 1.31 trillion dollars instead of 1.17 trillion dollars and the figure at the end of 2011 was 51 billion dollars higher than the previous calculation.

According to revised data, China cut its holdings of US debt by 8.2 billion dollars in 2011 compared with the previous year, The China Daily reports.

Shen Jianguang, Chief Asia-Pacific economist with Mizuho Securities Co Ltd, was quoted by the papers as saying that China may have activated investment plans for Europe.

"The reduction of dollar assets coupled with the ambitions in the Euro Zone can be interpreted as an important step by Chinese foreign-exchange regulators to promote the diversification of reserves," he said. (ANI)