Foreigners Purchase C$23.95 Billion in Canadian Securities in July

Foreigners resumed their purchases of Canadian securities in July after a selloff in the previous month, with a record acquisition of bonds.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors shed foreign securities from their portfolios, mostly U.S. and non-U.S. equities.

Foreign investors bought a net 23.95 billion Canadian dollars ($19.66 billion) in Canadian securities in November, Statistics Canada said Monday. In the previous month, non-residents sold a net C$858 million.

In July, foreign purchases of bonds reached a record C$23.81 billion, the data agency said. New issues of private corporate bonds in foreign markets of over $11 billion, largely denominated in foreign currencies, contributed the most to investment activity.

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.

Canadians in July sold a net C$1.83 billion in foreign securities, led by equities. Still, for the first seven months of 2017, Canadians acquired a net C$37.74 billion in foreign securities, versus C$9.63 billion from same year-ago period.

Over all, the transactions in July resulted in a net inflow of funds into Canada of C$25.77 billion.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 18, 2017 09:34 ET (13:34 GMT)