Offshore investors took advantage of the bargains that are Canadian securities and stormed our shores to get their fill up them.
Figures released Monday morning by Statistics Canada showed investment by offshore concerns in Canadian securities amounted to $24 billion in July, led by record buys into Canadian bonds. At the same time, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign securities by $1.8 billion, following strong acquisitions in June.
The agency concluded that, as a result, Canada's international transactions in securities generated a net inflow of funds into the Canadian economy of $25.8 billion in July. Foreign investment in Canadian securities has exceeded Canadian investment in foreign securities by $86.2 billion since the beginning of 2017, led by foreign acquisitions of Canadian private corporate instruments.
Foreign investors divested themselves of $858 million in June. The bulk of the inflows targeted the Canadian bond market in the month. Since the beginning of the year, foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities have totaled $124.0 billion, with $97.3 billion in securities issued by private corporations.
Canadian investors sold $1.8 billion of foreign securities in July. Divestment in foreign equities was moderated by purchases of foreign debt securities in the month.
Canadians reduced their holdings of foreign shares by $2.9 billion in July, divesting in both U.S. and non-U.S. foreign shares. Nevertheless, Canadian investors have acquired $31.3 billion in foreign equities in 2017, in contrast to a divestment of $243 million over the same period in 2016.
