Foreigners remain bullish on Canada.
Figures released this morning by Statistics Canada showed foreign investment in Canadian securities remained high at $14.7 billion in May, led by acquisitions of federal government bonds on the secondary market.
StatsCan says activity from offshore was on par with the average investment recorded in the previous four months. Foreign investment during the month focused on Canadian bonds. Since the beginning of the year, foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities have totaled $74.6 billion, compared with $66.2 billion for the same period in 2015.
The agency says foreign investment in Canadian bonds totaled $17.3 billion in May, the largest investment since March 2015. Foreign investors acquired $9.8 billion of federal government bonds, mainly secondary market purchases of Canadian dollar denominated instruments.
The agency says, at the same time, Canadian investors added $5.1 billion of foreign securities to their holdings, mainly equities.
Canadian acquisitions of foreign shares totaled $4.7 billion, the highest monthly investment recorded so far in 2016. Canadian investment in U.S. equities reached $3.1 billion, the largest investment since November 2015. U.S. stock prices were up 1.5% in May.
Moreover, Canadian investment in foreign debt securities slowed to $350 million in May, reflecting offsetting movements of funds between U.S. and non-U.S. foreign debt securities.
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