Canadians cut back their exposure to international securities
Canadian securities remained on the shopping list of foreign investors in October, the latest month of data released by Statistics Canada this week.
International investors increased their exposure by $21.5 billion with federal government debt and corporate shares dominating. This included $11.8 billion in bonds, with more than $8 billion each of Canadian government and private corporate notes.
They reduced their exposure to provincial government bonds by $2 billion driven by retirements, the largest divestment of these securities since February 2023. There was a further $2.1 billion reduction for money market instruments.
Non-resident investors also increased their exposure to Canadian equities by $9.8 billion, down from the $14.9 billion added in September.
Meanwhile, Canadian investors cut their exposure to foreign securities by $2.6 billion, driven by the largest divestment of foreign shares since March 2022.
Canadians dumped $15.6 billion in foreign shares in October including $11.1 billion of US shares. Between January and September Canadian investors had acquired $43.3 billion in US shares.
They also increased their exposure to foreign debt securities by $12.9 billion, including $11.2 billion in foreign bonds. Pension funds fuelled a total $10.4 billion in acquisitions of non-US foreign bonds, the largest monthly investment on record. Foreign money market instruments acquired totalled $1.8 billion, mostly US government paper.
