Foreign investors increased their holdings of Canadian securities by $9.0 billion in June, led by significant investment in equities, Statistics Canada announced on Thursday.
Foreign investment in Canadian equities reached $13.4 billion during the month, which represents the highest level since April 2004, the government agency says.
Cross-border mergers and acquisitions, which resulted in foreign investors receiving new shares accounted for the bulk of that activity during the month, StatsCan says.
Foreign investors also picked up $2.6 billion worth of Canadian shares on the secondary market during the month.
Foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian bonds by $3.4 billion during June, and reduced their holdings of Canadian money market instruments by $1.0 billion.
Conversely, Canadian investors acquired $4.1 billion of foreign securities in June, primarily non-U.S. foreign equities. Overall, international transactions in securities generated a net inflow of $4.9 billion into the Canadian economy in June.
“Foreign investors can’t seem to get enough of Canadian securities,” says National Bank Financial (NBF) in a report on the data.
Net foreign portfolio inflows total $80.4 billion for the first half of 2016, led by $48.7 billion into bonds, $26.2 billion into equities (which is the highest in 16 years), and $5.5 billion in money market instruments, the NBF report notes.
“In a world where a significant chunk of global bonds have negative yields, Canadian bonds can be relatively attractive,” says NBF. “With foreign appetite so strong, domestic issuers are keenly tapping markets in the third quarter as well. Strong portfolio inflows explain in part the resilience of the Canadian dollar amidst persistently weak oil prices.”
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