China continues buying US Treasury bonds in Oct

China's holding of US Treasury securities in 2013

China continued to purchase US Treasury bonds in October, bringing its total holdings of US government debt to surpass $1.3 trillion, despite concerns over the US government shutdown and a US debt default that month, the latest figures from the US Treasury Department showed Monday (US time).

China boosted its holdings of US securities by $10.7 billion in October to a total of $1.3045 trillion, marking the second consecutive month of an increase in the nation's US securities holdings.

After the addition of debt holdings in October, China retained its title as the largest creditor of the US, followed by Japan, which trimmed its holdings of US Treasuries by $370 million to $1.1744 trillion during the month.

Foreign acquisitions of US securities overall rose for the third month in a row in October to $5.6535 trillion, up from $5.6529 trillion in September, data from the US Treasury Department showed.

"Overall, this report showed continued healthy demand for US securities, and even at the time when there were concerns about the prospect of a US debt default global appetite for Treasuries remained healthy, reinforcing the unrivaled appeal of US government securities globally," Mullan Mulraine, director of US rates research at TD Securities (USA) LLC, wrote in a research note, according to Reuters.

Caribbean banking centers, consisting of 6 countries and regions in the Caribbean, and Brazil were the third and fourth largest creditor of the US in October, reporting US debt holdings of $290.7 billion and $246.7 billion, respectively, the Monday data said.