Foreign net purchases of U.S. long-term securities were 19.1 billion U.S. dollars in January as big holders trimmed their holdings, the Treasury Department reported Monday.

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.

According to the Treasury International Capital (TIC) report, large holders of the U.S. long-term securities, such as China and Japan cut their holdings, but Britain increased its holdings significantly.

Data showed that China, the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, trimmed its holdings by 5.8 billion dollars to 889.6 billion dollars in January from the previous month.

Japan, the second largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt, dipped its holdings but by a much smaller 300 million to 765.4 billion dollars.

Britain increased its holdings to 206.0 billion dollars in January from 178.1 billion dollars in December.