Nation's US debt holdings increase in May

China increased its holdings of US government securities in May, data from the US Treasury Department showed on Wednesday.

The Treasury International Capital report showed that China acquired $7.7 billion in US securities, up 0.6 percent from April, bringing the country's total to $1.27 trillion.

It marked the first time China purchased US securities since January. It purchased a record amount of securities in November, and then began to reduce its holdings.