Canadians directed their investment focus offshore during November; that word from Statistics Canada.
The nation's number crunchers reported Tuesday morning that Canadian investors acquired a record $16.5 billion of foreign securities in November, almost evenly split between foreign bonds and equities. Canadian investment in U.S. securities accounted for the bulk of the activity. Purchases of U.S. Treasury bonds and U.S. equities both reached record levels during the month.
Canadian acquisitions of foreign debt securities reached $8.5 billion in November, including an $8.7-billion investment in U.S. Treasury bonds. Investment in these bonds were mainly in instruments with medium- and long-term maturities. A divestment of $1.1 billion in non-US foreign bonds moderated the overall outflows in the month.
Meanwhile, says the agency, foreign investment in Canadian bonds slowed to $1.5 billion in November, compared with a $12.4 billion acquisition in October. Non-residents purchased both government bonds ($904 million) and corporate bonds ($627 million) in the month. New issues of Canadian bonds placed abroad weakened in November.
