Holders of U.S. Treasuries can breathe a sigh of relief as Japan's spotlight turns to France.

Japanese investors offloaded a record amount of French sovereign debt in February while their selling of U.S. bonds slowed, according to data from the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Japan released Monday.

Investors sold a net ¥1.52 trillion ($13.6 billion) of France's bonds, the most since at least 2005. February's outflow was the fourth month in a row and compared with net sales of ¥189.4 billion in January.

France's 10-year bond yield climbed to 1.16 percent on Feb. 6, the highest since September 2015, amid concern that Marine Le Pen's anti-euro campaign would gather momentum before April's presidential election.

Investors also sold U.S. sovereign debt for a fourth month, though the amount eased to ¥132.6 billion from ¥1.69 trillion in January.

Japan is the biggest overseas holder of Treasuries. The country's Financial Services Agency is discussing with banks how they're managing their foreign bond portfolios amid rising interest rates since the U.S. election.

"It may be difficult for banks to actively buy foreign bonds from the start of the new fiscal year" as the FSA is monitoring lenders' investment in overseas debt, said Shuichi Ohsaki, chief Japan rates strategist at Bank of America Merrill Lynch in Tokyo. "The pace of purchases will be slower than in 2016, and banks may be more comfortable in buying yen bonds."

Purchases of Australian sovereign bonds dropped for a third month, falling to ¥4.9 billion in February from ¥55.3 billion in January. Australia's dollar was the major currency to strengthen against the yen in February, rising 0.9 percent and making it more expensive for Japanese investors to buy Australia's debt.

Sovereign bonds include those issued by governments, government agencies and local authorities and with the original maturities of more than one year.