Foreign investors acquired $11.4 billion in Canadian securities in November after divesting a total of $39.7 billion over the three previous months, according to new data from Statistics Canada.
The agency said that foreign purchases were led by investments in both government and corporate debt securities.
During the month, foreign investors added $15.9 billion of Canadian debt securities to their portfolios after three months of divestments totalling $33.2 billion.
This was led by investments of $9.7 billion in federal government debt securities and $7.7 billion in Canadian corporate bonds, mainly new bonds in US dollars and issued by firms in the financial and transportation industries.
Overall investment activity in November was moderated by foreign divestment in equity securities with $4.5 billion of Canadian shares sold, Statistics Canada said.
Canadian share prices as reflected by the Standard and Poor’s/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index were up 7.2% in November, representing the biggest increase in three years.
Canadian investors purchased $12.5 billion of foreign securities in November, resulting in a net outflow of funds of $1.1 billion from the Canadian economy from international transactions in securities.