Oct 18 (Reuters) - Foreign holdings of U.S. Treasuries rose for a fifth straight month in August and hit a record high, but the pace of increase slowed, data from the Treasury Department showed on Monday. Foreign investors held $7.56 trillion of Treasuries as of the end of August. In July, foreign holdings of Treasuries stood at $7.54 trillion, the previous record according to Refinitiv Datastream, and up from $7.5 trillion at the end of June. read more Gennadiy Goldberg, rates strategist for TD Securities, said the slower rate of increase likely reflected foreign buyers taking stock of less-volatile trading for U.S. debt during August. The yield on the benchmark U.S. 10-year Treasury note started the month at 1.237% and finished August slightly higher at 1.307% after trading within a narrower range than in July.