Equity and debt issuance through the first three quarters of 2012 is down year over year, although equity issuance rose in the third quarter, reports Thomson Reuters.

According to the firm’s latest data, overall debt issuance (including self-funded deals), is down 8% through the first nine months of the year, compared with the same period in 2011, totaling $130.7 billion. Third quarter issuance is also off by 19.4% compared to the second quarter of this year.

Governments and agencies accounted for just over half of overall issuance through the first nine months, followed by financials, with the energy & power sector a distant third.

Canadian equity issuance is also down by 5.1% for the first nine months, totaling $24.1 billion from 290 issues. However, in the third quarter, issuance jumped 34.1% compared to the second quarter to just over $7.5 billion. The vast majority of the third quarter capital raising came in secondary offerings, which totaled $6.5 billion on 65 deals in the quarter (up 36.3% from the previous quarter).

On the equity side, the energy & power sector led the way, generating overall proceeds of $8.7 billion, in the first nine months. Real estate ranked second with $4.6 billion, followed closely by financials and materials.

Scotia Capital led the overall equity underwriting league tables, followed by RBC Capital Markets and TD Securities. Scotia also led the preferred share market, with RBC trailing close behind. RBC Capital Markets, CIBC World Markets, and Morgan Stanley took the top three spots in the retail structured products ranking, Thomson Reuters reports.

RBC also led the overall debt underwriting league tables, and took top spot in domestic corporate debt. TD Securities led in government debt.