China buys more U.S. treasuries in September. [File Photo}

China increased its U.S debt holdings by US$11.3 billion to US$1.1483 trillion in September, according to the data released by the U.S. Treasuries Department Wednesday.

Among the five largest foreign debt buyers, three boosted their holdings in September while the other two trimmed their holdings.

China is still the U.S.'s largest foreign creditor. China's holdings reached 1.11 trillion in June 2010, bringing the country's holdings over US$1 trillion for 16 months in a row.

From January to March, China sold US $15.2 billion of its US debt holdings. Later, China upped its holdings a combined sum of US$28.6 billion from April to July, eventually selling $36.5 billion in August.

Japan, the second-largest buyer of US debt, increased its holdings by US$20.2 billion in September and Britain, the third largest buyer, bought US$24.4 billion during the same period.

"Despite a weaker dollar, many investors including private equity firms began to invest in U.S. debt in the wake of the EU debt crisis,"said Wen Bin, a senior analyst at the Bank of China's International financial Research Institute. "U.S. equities are still the best option."

China's central bank said in a report yesterday that a rising demand driving by risk aversion has kept the yields of major bonds low. Despite their lowered rating by the Standard & Poor on August 5 of this year, U.S. debt yields perked up while yields of Germany, France and Japan fell further.

China's business press carried the story above on Thursday.