In this morning’s economic news, Statistics Canada said that foreign investors increased their holdings of Canadian securities in May by $1.3 billion.

That was roughly in line with the expectations of analysts, who dismissed the report as fairly neutral.

StatsCan said foreign investment went into debt securities as non-residents sold off existing issues of Canadian shares for the first time in 14 months.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors continued to invest in foreign securities with bonds leading the way. As well, there was a significant increase in the purchase of foreign equities by Canadian investors, StatsCan said.

Canadians bought a net $3.5 billion in foreign securities in May, the highest level seen in 10 months.

Despite the slowdown in stock purchases in May, foreign investors have been net buyers of existing Canadian shares, with purchases totalling $6.3 billion since the beginning of this year.