Canadian investments looked sexy to folks offshore in March, according to figures released Thursday morning by Statistics Canada.
The agency reported that foreign investment in Canadian securities amounted to $15.1 billion in March, largely in Canadian corporate instruments. At the same time, Canadian investors added $15.4 billion of foreign securities to their holdings, led by acquisitions of U.S. equities, the current political turmoil notwithstanding.
Moveover, said StatsCan, foreign investement in Canadian instruments, for the first quarter exceeded Canadian investment in foreign securities by $28.8 billion, led by issuances of new Canadian shares to non-resident investors in February.
Foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities reached $60.7 billion in the first quarter, up considerably from previous quarters. That includes $3.3 billion of Canadian equities, following a record high $35.9-billion investment in February. Canadian purchases of foreign securities reached $31.9 billion in the first quarter of the year.
The nation’s number crunchers also reported that Canadian investors acquired $16.1 billion of foreign equities in March. Record purchases of $20.2 billion of U.S. equities were moderated by sales of non-U.S. foreign equities in the month. U.S. stock prices were virtually unchanged at the end of March.
