China boosted purchases of U.S. long-term securities by 2 percent to 895.2 billion dollars in March, the first increase in six months, reported the U.S. Treasury Department on Monday.

The department said that foreign net purchases of U.S. long-term securities were 140.5 billions dollars in March, up from 47.1 billion dollars in the previous month. The March increase was the largest one-month gain on record. It surpassed the old record of a net increase of 135.8 billion dollars in May 2007.

The figures reflect demand for U.S. Treasury obligations and other assets including stocks and government agency debt, a key to funding the massive U.S. balance of payments deficit with the rest of the world.

Total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities rose 3.5 percent to 3.88 trillion dollars in March.

According to the Treasury International Capital (TIC) report, China, the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, increased its holdings by 17.7 billion dollars in March from the previous month of 877.5 billion dollars.

Japan, the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, increased its holdings by 2.1 percent to 784.9 billion dollars.

Britain also boosted its holdings to 279.0 billion dollars in March from 233.5 billion dollars in February.