Statistics Canada issued its International Transactions in Securities report yesterday, which showed that foreign investors have begun reducing their holdings of Canadian securities by $2.0 billion in December of last year.
According to the report, foreign investors dumped Canadian debt securities but also made additions to their Canadian equities portfolios.
Key points from the report:
-Foreign investors poured in $188.5 billion into Canadian securities in 2017, led by strong acquisitions of Canadian bonds.
-Foreign investors reduced their holdings of Canadian bonds by $4.0 billion in December of 2017.
-The divestment activity was focused mainly in provincial government bonds.
-Foreign investment in Canadian money markets came to $401 million in December.
-In December, Canadian short-term interest rates were up by 17 basis points and the Canadian dollar appreciated against the USD by 2.1 US cents.
-The Canadian equity market received foreign inflows of $1.7 billion in December.
And while foreign investors were reducing their exposure to Canadian bonds, Canadian investors were acquiring foreign securities by to the tune of $22.0 billion in December. Canadian investors in December purchased foreign equities totaling a record $19.8 billion - $11.4 billion went into the US market while $8.4 billion to other foreign markets.
"In 2017, Canadian investment in foreign securities reached $84.7 billion compared with $13.8 billion in 2016.," said Stats Canada.
Image credit Nicolas Raymond
