Chinese mainland's purchase of US Treasury bonds fell for the first time in 11 months to $763.5 billion in April, latest US government data showed Monday.

The April figure, a drop from March's $767.9 billion, was the lowest since the purchases started building up in June 2008, the US Treasury said in its monthly international capital data report.

The figures do not include those purchases made in Hong Kong, China's special administrative region, which climbed to $80.9 billion in April from $78.9 billion the pevious month.

But the latest statistics showed China sitting comfortably as the top purchaser of Treasury bonds despite years of trying to diversify its reserves away from the US dollar.

Japan is the second-largest holder of US bonds, at $685.9 billion in April.