Foreign investors added to their holdings of Canadian securities in January, while Canadian investors trimmed their offshore holdings, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The national statistical agency reported that foreign investors added $17.0 billion worth of Canadian securities in January, driven by the acquisition of $21.4 billion in Canadian bonds.
At the same time, foreign investors sold $6.3 billion of Canadian equities.
“Net issuances of Canadian bonds on foreign markets accounted for over half of the investment activity, led by private corporations,” StatsCan said.
“Foreign purchases of new bonds issued by Canadian private corporations totalled $23.0 billion in January, the highest level since March 2015,” the agency noted.
Foreign investors also added $1.8 billion worth of Canadian money market securities in January, primarily private corporate paper.
The data also showed that Canadian investors reduced their foreign securities holdings by $9.1 billion in January.
In particular, investors sold $11.3 billion worth of foreign equities in the month.
This was somewhat offset by the addition of $1.3 billion in foreign bonds and $1.0 billion in foreign money market instruments.
The buying of Canadian securities by offshore investors and Canadian investors’ divestment from foreign securities produced a $26.1 billion net portfolio inflow in January, StatsCan said, which more than offset the $24.0 billion net outflow in the previous month.