China's US Treasury holdings continue to fall

Washington

CHINA'S holdings of US Treasuries fell to a more than one-year low as the world's second-largest economy takes steps to stabilise the yuan, which is under pressure from the trade war.

The Asian nation's holdings of US bonds, bills and notes declined for a fourth month to US$1.15 trillion in September, from US$1.17 trillion in August, the Treasury Department said in a statement on Friday. China remained the biggest foreign creditor to the US, followed by Japan whose Treasury holdings were little changed at US$1.03 trillion.

The data comes as the US and China resume trade talks with President Donald Trump and China's Xi Jinping scheduled to meet at the Group of 20 summit in Argentina, which begins on Nov 30. In preparation for a potential deal from those talks, China has presented a list of possible concessions, which Mr Trump said on Friday left out "four or five" big items the US wants.

"China wants to make a deal. They sent a list of things they are willing to do, which is a large list and it is just not acceptable to me yet. But at some point I think that we are doing extremely well with respect to China," Mr Trump told reporters.

Investors are searching for any clues China may pare back its vast holding of US Treasuries to retaliate against US tariffs, though Beijing has given no indication it's doing so. So far the US has imposed duties on US$250 billion worth of Chinese imports. BLOOMBERG