Foreigners increased their holdings of Canadian securities in June, led by government bonds, capping a record quarterly purchase.
International investors bought a net $7.25 billion in June including $6.23 billion of bonds, Statistics Canada said yesterday. Foreigners also bought $657 million of the country's money-market paper in June and $362 million of stocks.
Foreign demand for Canadian securities surged from about $1 billion in January to $10.6 billion in May, in part because Canadian debt markets were hurt less by global credit shortages and Canada is alone among G7 countries with a decade of budget surpluses. Stock prices also rose in the three months ending in June, as rising crude oil and natural gas prices lifted energy companies.
For the whole second quarter, foreign purchases of Canadian securities were $27.6 billion. So far this year, foreigners have bought a net $37.6 billion of Canadian securities, compared with $4.68 billion for the same period last year.
