For the first time since March 2010, foreigners reduced their holdings of Canadian securities in June, selling $3.5 billion worth after buying $15.3 billion in May, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.
Investors had been piling money into Canada, apparently eyeing its sound economy, banks, fiscal outlook and currency. Even with June’s reversal, the first half of the year showed $41.2 billion of foreign investment in Canadian securities.
Foreigners divested $4.5 billion of Canadian bonds in June, Statscan said. This was marked by retirements of Canadian government bonds, which were mitigated by foreign acquisitions of bonds on the secondary market, especially federal Canadian-dollar bonds.
Non-residents also sold $981 million in Canadian money market paper, while buying $2.0 billion in stocks, predominantly technology and gold firms.
Canadian acquisitions of foreign securities fell to $343 million from $3.6 billion in May. They sold foreign bonds for the fourth straight month, including $4.0 billion in U.S. government bonds, while buying some bonds from Japan and other OECD nations. They also bought $3.8 billion in foreign stocks.
Related Stories
