China’s foreign-exchange regulator has denied that the country intends to slow or halt purchases of US government debt following a report that helped propel the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield to a nine-month high this week.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that senior, unnamed Chinese officials had recommended slowing or halting purchases of Treasuries, which deepened a sell-off in the world’s largest government debt market as investors anticipate tighter Federal Reserve policy this year.
China is the largest foreign holder of Treasuries at $1.2tn, according to official data, while many analysts of the $14tn market believe that the country also owns several hundred billion via other financial centres, such as London.