Foreigners Are Snapping Up China Government Bonds Like Never Before

  • Nation’s 10-year sovereign yield is near its highest of year
  • Foreigners bought yuan debt at fastest pace ever last quarter

Photographer: Johannes Eisele/AFP via Getty Images

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They came for the yield and stayed for the currency: foreigners are buying Chinese bonds like never before even though domestic investors keep dumping the notes.

Overseas funds boosted their holdings of Chinese sovereign debt by a record 439 billion yuan ($66 billion) last quarter, according to Bloomberg calculations. With a 10-year yield at 3.19%, the securities are attractive to foreign traders at a time when $16 trillion of the world’s debt yields less than zero.