WASHINGTON, April 17- China increased its holding of U.S. Treasury securities in February after cutting 7.3 billion U.S. dollars in the previous month, the latest data from the U.S. Treasury Department showed on Monday.

China increased its treasuries holding by 8.6 billion U.S. dollars in February, with the total holding up to 1.0597 trillion U.S. dollars.

China's foreign exchange reserves climbed to 3.0091 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of March, according to statistics from the People's Bank of China. This was the first time the reserves expanded for two consecutive months since April 2016.

Concerns about capital outflows from China have receded lately, with the Chinese economy on a firmer footing.

Japan, which overtakes China as the largest holder of U.S. treasuries in last October, also increased its U.S. treasuries holding by 12.6 billion dollars to 1.1151 trillion dollars in February.

By the end of February, overall foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury securities increased to 6.012 trillion U.S. dollars from January' s 5.953 trillion dollars.