Foreign investors piled into Canadian T-bills in November, driving a record $19.5 billion worth of purchases of money market securities, according to data released by Statistics Canada on Friday.
Overall, foreign investors added $16.4 billion in Canadian securities for the month, which was more than offset by Canadian investment in foreign securities ($17.8 billion), generating a net outflow of $1.4 billion from the economy, following two months of strong net inflows.
The foreign buying was led by an “unprecedented investment in money market instruments,” StatCan said.
Along with the strong flows into federal T-bills ($15.3 billion), foreign investors also added $2.3 billion in provincial money market paper, along with $2.7 billion worth of private corporate paper.
Overall, foreign investors added $25.2 billion worth of Canadian debt securities in November.
With investors flocking to money markets, their Canadian bond buying dropped to its lowest monthly level for the year, $5.7 billion.
The national statistical agency reported that federal government bonds led the bond buying, as investors added $7.1 billion worth in November.
At the same time, foreign investment in corporate bonds dropped to $1.3 billion in the month, down sharply from $8.4 billion in October. And investors reduced their exposure to Canadian equities by $8.8 billion in November.
Conversely, Canadian investors added both foreign equities ($5.9 billion) and foreign debt securities ($11.9 billion) in November.
The total investment of $17.8 billion in November marked the highest monthly total since March 2024 — following a $2.7-billion divestment in October, the agency noted.
Canadian investors added $3.6 billion worth of U.S. bonds and $6.7 billion in non-U.S. bonds in November, driving the foreign debt acquisitions.
Most of the foreign equity buying came in U.S. stocks, $5.1 billion worth, StatCan also noted.