Canada's international transactions in securities, November 2024
Released: 2025-01-17
Canadian investors increased their exposure to foreign securities by $17.8 billion in November, the highest investment since March 2024. Meanwhile, foreign investors acquired $16.4 billion of Canadian securities, led by an unprecedented investment in money market instruments.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net outflow of funds of $1.4 billion from the Canadian economy in November, following two consecutive months of strong net inflows of funds.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Canadian investment in foreign securities resumes
Canadian investment in foreign securities reached $17.8 billion in November, following a $2.7 billion divestment in October. The activity in November marked the highest investment since March 2024.
In November, Canadian investors acquired $11.9 billion of foreign debt securities, led by a $10.3 billion investment in bonds. This investment was composed of $6.7 billion of non-US foreign bonds and $3.6 billion of US bonds.
Investors increased their exposure to foreign equities by $5.9 billion in November, following two consecutive months of divestment. The investment largely targeted US shares (+$5.1 billion).
US share prices, as measured by the Standard & Poor's composite index, were up by 5.7% in November, following a 1.0% decline in October.
Chart 2
Canadian investment in foreign equity and investment fund shares
Record foreign investment in Canadian money market instruments
Foreign investors acquired $16.4 billion of Canadian securities in November, led by purchases of debt securities. Acquisitions of debt securities totalled $25.2 billion, with most of the investment being in federal government instruments.
Foreign investors increased their holdings of Canadian money market instruments by an unprecedented $19.5 billion in November, led by strong purchases of Government of Canada Treasury bills (+$15.3 billion). Foreign acquisitions of provincial (+$2.3 billion) and private corporate (+$2.7 billion) paper also contributed to the activity.
Meanwhile, non-resident investors increased their exposure to Canadian bonds by $5.7 billion in November, their lowest monthly investment in 2024. The investment was mainly in federal government bonds (+$7.1 billion). Foreign investment in private corporate bonds slowed from $8.4 billion in October to $1.3 billion in November. On a year-to-date basis, foreign investors have acquired $191.6 billion of Canadian bonds in 2024, compared with $74.9 billion over the same period in 2023. By type of bond, over half ($107.9 billion) of foreign acquisitions so far in 2024 have been in government bonds.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in federal government debt securities
Non-resident investors decreased their exposure to Canadian shares by $8.8 billion in November. This divestment followed two consecutive months of notable investment totalling $24.7 billion. The foreign divestment in November was driven by sales on the secondary market and, to a lesser extent, redemptions of portfolio shares resulting from merger and acquisition activities.
Chart 4
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
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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 December 2024 will be released on February 17, 2025.
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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