China cuts US debt holdings to 17-year low, shifts reserves to gold

Beijing: China has reduced its US Treasury holdings to a 17-year low as part of the continued diversification of its forex reserves towards gold and overseas equity investments amid unsettling ties with Washington.

China's holdings of US treasuries fell to $ 682.6 billion in November last year, down from $ 688.7 billion in October, the lowest since 2008, according to data released by the US Department of the Treasury.

Beijing's move to trim its US holdings came as the foreign ownership of the US debt hit a record high, with Japan and the UK scaling up their holdings, according to the data. Japan's holdings rose by $ 2.6 billion to $ 1.2 trillion, while the UK's pool rose by $ 10.6 billion to $ 888.5 billion.