Canadian investors pared back foreign holdings: StatsCan

Following record investment a month prior, Canadian investors unwound some of their foreign holdings in July, according to new data from Statistics Canada.

Specifically, after adding a record $28.0 billion in foreign securities in June, Canadian investors trimmed their offshore holdings by $4.7 billion in July.

Investors shed $5.2-billion-worth of foreign stocks in the latter month, marking the first equity divestment since the onset of the pandemic in March 2020. StatsCan said that investors sold $3.6-billion-worth in U.S. stocks and another $1.6 billion in other foreign equities.

At the same time, Canadian investors added $1.1 billion of foreign bonds in July, the agency reported — with non-U.S. foreign bonds and U.S. corporate bonds leading the way. Investors also shed $2.1-billion-worth of U.S. government bonds in the month.

As Canadian investors were selling foreign securities in July, foreign investors added $14.2-billion-worth of Canadian securities — as a result, international securities transactions produced a net inflow of $18.9 billion in the month.

Over the past 12 months, foreign investors have added $118.1-billion-worth of Canadian securities, StatsCan said.

In July, the primary target was government debt, with offshore investors buying $13.5-billion-worth, including $8.1 billion in federal debt and $5.4 billion in provincial government bonds.

Foreign investors also acquired $6.0 billion in corporate bonds, and sold $1.1 worth of Canadian equities.

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.