Canadians invested $4.1 billion in foreign securities, their biggest purchase since November 2002, with more than three-quarters going to foreign bonds, Statistics Canada said today.

This came after they offloaded $1.2 billion in foreign securities in August.

Meanwhile foreign investment in Canadian securities swelled by $7.4 billion in September, most of which was in purchases of Canadian stock.

Foreign investment in Canadian securities swelled by $7.4 billion, most of it in Canadian stock, the agency said.

“Foreign holdings of Canadian stocks surged by $5.2 billion in September, due in part to special events surrounding two large Canadian businesses. The single largest share offering in Canadian history and a corporate restructuring helped push foreign investment in Canadian stocks to its highest level since April of this year.:

Americans were the most active, buying $4.0 billion worth.

“Of the $5.2 billion, $3.6 billion was in purchases of outstanding shares, the largest investment in the secondary market since March 2000. The remainder, $1.6 billion, was invested in other transactions, mostly new issues.”

StatsCan said non-residents bought $1.9 billion worth of Canadian bonds in September, virtually unchanged from August.

“On a quarterly basis, non-resident investors have purchased $6.6 billion worth of Canadian bonds over the third quarter of 2004, the largest since the first quarter of 2003,” the agency said. “Purchases of corporate bonds accounted for much of the quarter with investments totalling $4.7 billion.”

Foreign investment in Canadian money market paper was $375 million in September.

However, in the first nine months of this year, investors reduced their holdings of money market paper by $3.1 billion, similar to their divestment of $2.4 billion over the same period in 2003.