Canada's international transactions in securities, August 2024
Released: 2024-10-17
Canadian investors increased their exposure to foreign securities by $12.3 billion in August, mainly in US shares. Meanwhile, foreign investors acquired $10.0 billion of Canadian securities.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net outflow of funds of $2.4 billion from the Canadian economy in August, following a net inflow of funds of $6.4 billion in July.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Strong Canadian investment in foreign equity securities
Canadian investment in foreign securities reached $12.3 billion in August. The activity was led by acquisitions of US equity securities (+$12.7 billion). US share prices, as measured by the Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 composite index, were up by 2.3% at the end of August after experiencing volatility early in the month. On a year-to-date basis, Canadian investors have acquired $44.5 billion of US equity securities in 2024, compared with a $2.5 billion divestment over the same period in 2023. Acquisitions of non-US foreign equity securities totalled $2.9 billion in August, following four months of divestments.
Chart 2
Canadian investment in foreign equity and investment fund shares
Meanwhile, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign debt securities by $3.3 billion in August, with reductions in both money market instruments and bonds. The decline in August followed seven consecutive months of investment. Investors reduced their holdings of foreign money market instruments by $2.7 billion in August. In terms of bonds, investors reduced their holdings of US government bonds (-$3.9 billion) but purchased US corporate bonds (+$1.5 billion) and non-US foreign bonds (+$1.8 billion) in the month.
Foreign investment in Canadian securities mainly in bonds
Foreign investors acquired $10.0 billion of Canadian securities in August. The investment activity targeted debt securities and was moderated by a foreign divestment in equity securities.
Non-resident investors acquired $21.9 billion of Canadian debt securities in August, investing mainly in bonds (+$21.4 billion). Non-resident investors added $9.7 billion of federal government bonds to their holdings. Foreign investment in federal government bonds has reached $69.9 billion so far in 2024, compared with $3.9 billion over the same period in 2023. Non-resident investors also invested in Canadian corporate bonds (+$10.9 billion) in August.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in Canadian debt securities, by sector of issuer
Chart 4
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
Meanwhile, foreign investors acquired $512 million of Canadian money market instruments. They acquired corporate money market instruments (+$7.4 billion) in August, while reducing their holdings of government instruments (-$6.9 billion).
In contrast, non-resident investors reduced their exposure to Canadian shares, divesting $11.9 billion in August. This was the third monthly divestment in four months and the largest since June 2022. On an industry basis, the divestment in August was mainly in shares of the energy and mining industry.
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Note to readers
The data series on international transactions in securities covers portfolio transactions in equity and investment fund shares, bonds and money market instruments for both Canadian and foreign issues. This activity excludes transactions in equity and debt instruments between affiliated enterprises. These are classified as foreign direct investment in international accounts.
Equity and investment fund shares include common and preferred equities, as well as units or shares of investment funds. For the sake of brevity, the terms "shares" and "equity and investment fund shares" have the same meaning.
Debt securities include bonds and money market instruments.
Bonds have an original term to maturity of more than one year.
Money market instruments have an original term to maturity of one year or less.
Government of Canada paper includes Treasury bills and US-dollar Canada bills.
All values in this release are net transactions unless otherwise stated.
Next release
Data on Canada's international transactions in securities for September will be released on November 18.
Products
As a complement to this release, the data visualization product "Securities statistics," part of the series Statistics Canada – Data Visualization Products (71-607-X), is available online.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is also available.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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