Foreigners Acquire C$29.46 Billion of Canadian Securities in May

Foreign investment in Canadian securities hit its second-highest level on record in May, led by bond purchases.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors added foreign securities to their portfolios in the month.

Offshore investors acquired a net 29.46 billion Canadian dollars ($23.25 billion) in Canadian securities in May, Statistics Canada said Monday. In the previous month, nonresidents purchased a net C$10.61 billion.

The May total marks the second biggest one-month purchase by foreigners of Canadian securities, with the record coming earlier this year when nonresidents bought C$39.11 billion in February.

Over all, the transactions in May resulted in a net inflow of funds into Canada of C$25.09 billion.

Canada is running a sizable current-account deficit, and therefore requires money from abroad to help finance consumption and investment. As a triple-A rated sovereign, Canada attracts foreign-investor interest, especially during a period of heightened geopolitical uncertainty.

For the first five months of 2017, foreigners added C$100.55 billion in Canadian securities to their portfolios, or a roughly 23% increase from the comparable year-ago period.

The bulk of May's investment by foreigners was in Canadian debt securities. Nonresidents purchased C$20.85 billion in bonds, or the largest one-month total in over two years, led by debt issued by provincial governments. Foreigners also acquired C$7.17 billion in Canadian equities.

Canadian investors bought a net C$4.37 billion in foreign securities in May, after shedding nearly C$10 billion in the previous month, with acquisitions focused on U.S. Treasury bills and U.S. corporate bonds.

Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 17, 2017 08:45 ET (12:45 GMT)