Japan has overtaken China to become the leading holder of U.S. Treasurys thanks to a flood of money coming out of its massive state pension fund -- and it looks as though it will be America's biggest creditor for some time to come, analysts say.
In February, Japan's holdings of U.S. Treasurys, at 1.224 trillion dollars, inched above the 1.223 trillion dollars held by mainland China, beating its rival for the first time in six-and-a-half years, according to the latest data from Treasury International Capital.
While capital inflows into China have slowed, a wall of money is flowing out of Japan following the change in the asset allocation policy of the world's largest state pension fund, the Government Pension Investment Fund of Japan (GPIF).
And that money is headed to the U.S., analysts said.
"Yields have been falling in the euro zone and speculation that the U.S. will be the only developed country to hike interest rates is accelerating the flow of Japanese money to the U.S.," Nomura market economist Shinichi Obata told CNBC by phone.
