Overseas institutional investors slightly reduced their holdings of Chinese government bonds in March, official data showed.

By the end of March, the country's central government bonds held by foreign investors topped 2.43 trillion yuan (about 376.2 billion U.S. dollars), down by 51.81 billion yuan from the previous month, data released by the China Central Depository & Clearing Co., Ltd. showed.

Foreign investors' holdings of bonds issued by China's policy banks topped 1.01 trillion yuan during the period, while their holdings of local government bonds stood at 10.99 billion yuan, the data showed.

The outstanding bonds held by overseas institutional investors reached nearly 3.57 trillion yuan as of the end of March, of which 2.77 trillion yuan was under depository via the Global Connect program and 800.58 billion yuan via the Bond Connect program.

Currently, overseas institutions may access China's inter-bank bond market through the Global Connect (direct holding) or the Bond Connect (multi-tiered custody).