Old Pinawa Dam Provincial Heritage Park and Winnipeg River
kavram/123RF

Canadian investors padded their foreign securities holdings in June, whereas foreign investors dumped Canadian stocks and bonds.

Statistics Canada reports that foreign investors pulled $5.1 billion from Canadian bonds, and another $1.1 billion from domestic equities, during the month. This was somewhat offset by investors buying $2.3 billion in Canadian money market instruments.

Overall, foreign holdings of Canadian securities dropped by $4.0 billion in June, which represents the third divestment in four months.

At the same time, Canadian investors added $6.6 billion worth of foreign securities in June.

On balance, the Canadian economy recorded a net outflow of $10.6 billion due to cross-border securities flows. And, for the second quarter, net portfolio outflows totalled $17.0 billion.

For the first half of 2019, foreign investors bought $32.5 billion in Canadian securities, down from $49.4 billion for the same period in 2018.

Canadian investors added $8.4 billion in foreign securities through the first half, compared with $29.4 billion in 2018.