Canadian investors increase foreign buying in September

Canadian investors stepped up their buying of foreign securities in September, outpacing foreign buying of Canadian securities, Statistics Canada says.

In September, Canadians snapped up $11.2-billion worth of foreign securities, StatsCan said, noting that this marks the highest level in four months.

Foreign investors bought just $4.5 billion in Canadian securities during the month, leaving the economy with a $6.7-billion net outflow.

Canadian investors added about $6 billion in foreign stocks in the month, marking the sixth straight month of foreign equity additions.

The buying was concentrated in large-cap U.S. tech stocks, StatsCan said.

Canadian holdings of foreign bonds rose by $5.7 billion in September.

“Since the beginning of the year, Canadian investors have increased their holdings of U.S. corporate bonds by $17.6 billion, while reducing their exposure to U.S. Treasury bonds by $22.3 billion,” StatsCan said.

While Canadian investors loaded up on foreign equities, offshore investors bought $3.9-billion worth of Canadian stocks in September, StatsCan reported — noting that this represented the largest investment since February 2019.

The increase came through both new issuances and secondary market buying, the agency said, with the energy and mining sectors leading the way.

On the fixed-income side, foreign investors added just under $1 billion in Canadian bonds in September, as $9.2-billion worth of corporate bond buying was largely offset by foreign investors selling federal government bonds.

James Langton

James is a senior reporter for Advisor.ca and its sister publication, Investment Executive. He has been reporting on regulation, securities law, industry news and more since 1994.