WASHINGTON: Japan remained the largest foreign holder of US Treasury securities for the fifth straight month in October, US Treasury Department data showed Monday.

Japan's holdings increased by 22.2 billion dollars from September to stand at 1,168 billion dollars as of the end of October, up for the first time in two months.

China, which came in second, saw its holdings of US Treasury securities drop by 800 million dollars to 1,101.6 billion dollars, down for the fourth consecutive month.

The gap between Japan and China has widened since Japan wrested the top spot from China in June.

According to the data, foreigners logged 4.3 billion dollars in net buying of long-term US securities.

Long-term securities investment including overseas investment by US investors posted a buying excess of 5.2 billion dollars.

Including short-term securities, securities investment in the month posted net selling of 48.3 billion dollars.

JIJI Press