Canadian investors bought $4.9 billion worth of foreign securities in June, ending the quarter with a near-record purchases totalling $23.8 billion, Statistics Canada reported today.

StatsCan said June’s purchases mainly involved debt instruments, split almost equally between bonds and money market paper.

It said non-residents sold $4.5 billion worth of Canadian securities — mostly stocks and bonds — in June, on top of a $2.6-billion selloff in May.

Canadians invested a record $2.2 billion in foreign money market instruments in June and bought $2.6 billion worth of foreign bonds.

The pace of foreign bond purchases slowed after three consecutive months of heavy buying, which totalled $21.3 billion.

Non-residents purchased $1.5 billion worth of Canadian money market paper — almost all in federal treasury bills — in June, the highest level of investment over the last year.

They also sold $1.4 billion worth of Canadian stocks in June, after dumping $2.9 billion in May.