More offshore investors found Canadian investments, particularly our bonds, attractive in the month before last.
Figures released Thursday morning by Statistics Canada put the figure at $11.8 billion, with new issues of bonds placed abroad by Canadian private corporations accounting for the bulk of this activity.
The agency went on to say that foreign acquisitions of Canadian bonds reached $11.5 billion in September, following a $9-billion investment in August. Foreign investors added $13.2 billion of corporate bonds to their holdings in the month, mainly new issues of private corporate bonds denominated in foreign currencies.
At the same time, Canadian investment in foreign securities was $1.8 billion, led by acquisitions of non-U.S. foreign shares.
Canadian investors acquired $6.8 billion of foreign equities in September. Canadian acquisitions of non-U.S. foreign shares reached $8.6 billion, while Canadian holdings of U.S. shares were down in the month. The investment in non-US shares was the largest recorded since December 2000.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net inflow of funds of $10.0 billion into the Canadian economy in September.
