Foreign investment in Canadian securities reached a record high $38.8 billion in February, led by issuances of new Canadian shares to non-resident investors, Statistics Canada announced on Tuesday.
“This investment was largely in Canadian equities with the vast majority resulting from cross-border merger and acquisition activities,” the agency says in a statement.
On the fixed-income side, non-resident investors also acquired $3.0 billion of Canadian debt securities in the month. Foreign acquisitions of Canadian bonds came in at $7.1 billion in February, StatsCan says, while investors also cut their holdings of Canadian money market instruments by $4.1 billion.
Canadian investors added $6.3 billion of foreign securities to their portfolios in February, StatsCan says. Investment in foreign equities rose to $4.8 billion from $3.8 billion in January, led by U.S. stocks.
Canadian investors also added $1.5 billion of foreign debt securities, StatsCan says, primarily in U.S. instruments.