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NEW YORK, June 15 (Reuters) - Foreign investors' purchases of long-term U.S. securities fell in April, the Treasury Department said on Monday, as they looked for better returns elsewhere.
Excluding swaps, international investors bought a net $11.2 billion in long-term U.S. securities in April, down from a revised $55.4 billion in the prior month.
Net long-term capital flows are a key gauge of foreign investor appetite because they exclude short-term transactions.
The report also showed a monthly net capital outflow from the United States of $53.2 billion in April, compared with a monthly inflow of $25.0 billion in March. In the same period, the U.S. trade gap widened to $29.2 billion.
Analysts said outflows from U.S. assets in April were consistent with an improvement in global risk appetite. In recent months, an aversion to higher-risk investments has boosted demand for assets denominated in U.S. dollars.
"The April (TICs) data tends to work with a theme that some of the funds that moved into U.S. dollars on the back of flight to 'quality' criteria exited as soon as times improved," Alan Ruskin, a chief international strategist at at RBS Global Banking and Markets, said in a note.
Demand for U.S. Treasury bonds and notes fell, the department said, with total net foreign purchases at $41.89 billion in April, down from $55.3 billion in March.
China, the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, decreased its holdings of government bonds in April to $763.5 billion. In March, it held $767.9 billion.
Japan's Treasury holdings stood at $685.9 billion in April, compared with $686.7 billion in March, and Russian holdings also fell slightly to $137.0 billion versus $138.4 billion.
The U.S. dollar held earlier gains versus the euro
following the data, which last traded down about 1 percent at
$1.3837
Total net foreign purchases of U.S. equities plunged to $4.58 billion in April from $13.15 billion in March. Meanwhile, foreign investors sold $9.73 billion worth of U.S. corporate bonds in April, compared with purchases totalling $3.54 billion in March.
(Reporting by Vivianne Rodrigues; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)