Source: The Canadian Press

The amount of foreign investment in Canadian securities nearly doubled to $23.2 billion in May, with close to half of that in federal bonds.

That compares to foreign investment of $12.4 billion in April.

Statistics Canada says federal government debt was a big attraction for foreign investors, who bought $11.5 billion of bonds issued by Ottawa in May.

That pushed the overall sales of Canadian bonds to the highest level in a year.

Statistics Canada says foreign purchases of Canadian stocks rose to $5.3 billion in May, the largest monthly inflow so far this year.

The agency says stock purchases were spread across most sectors of the Toronto Stock Exchange, with the exception of energy and banking.