Invest in Canada

Foreigners boost Canadian investments after two months of decline

by investor on 19/03/09 at 12:17 pm

Foreign investors increased their purchases of Canadian securities in January after two months of declines, resulting it total acquisitions of $10.4-billion, largely in the form of debt and money-market instruments, Statistics Canada reported Thursday.

Canadians, for their part, increased their holdings in foreign securities for the first time in five months, adding $4.2-billion to their portfolios in the form of short-term debt instruments and U.S. equities, as U.S. share prices fell to a six-year low.

Foreign investors bought $10.7-billion in Canadian debt instruments in January, the largest investment since November 2006, Statistics Canada said.

The $4.2-billion investment in money-market instruments represented an increase of more than 50 per cent in holdings of Canadian paper over the past three months. Meanwhile, purchases of federal government debt securities represented the bulk of the $6.5-billion spent on Canadian bonds, the federal agency reported.

Non-residents sold $313-million worth of Canadian equities in January, with sales concentrated in financial and non-precious metal sectors.

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