SHANGHAI, April 18 (Reuters) - Foreign holdings in China's onshore yuan bonds increased for the seventh consecutive month in March, official data showed on Thursday.

Foreign institutions held 4.0 trillion yuan in bonds traded on China's interbank market as of the end of March, the central bank's Shanghai head office said, up from 3.95 trillion yuan a month earlier. (Reporting by Shanghai Newsroom; Editing by Jacqueline Wong)