Canada's international transactions in securities, August 2025
Released: 2025-10-17
Foreign investors acquired $25.9 billion of Canadian securities in August, led by purchases of debt instruments. Meanwhile, Canadian investors added $19.5 billion of foreign securities to their portfolio, led by investment in shares.
As a result, international transactions in securities generated a net inflow of funds of $6.4 billion in the Canadian economy in August, following a net inflow of $9.3 billion in July.
Chart 1
Canada's international transactions in securities
Highest foreign investment in Canadian debt securities since April 2024
Foreign acquisitions of Canadian securities totalled $25.9 billion in August. The activity in the month reflected foreign investment in debt securities (+$32.6 billion), the highest level since April 2024. The investment in August 2025 was moderated by a divestment in shares (-$6.7 billion).
Chart 2
Foreign investment in Canadian debt securities, by sector of issuer
Non-resident investors acquired $31.2 billion of Canadian bonds in August, led by purchases of new private corporate bonds that were largely denominated in US dollars and euros. Acquisitions of federal and provincial government bonds also contributed to the investment activity.
Foreign investment in Canadian money market instruments totalled $1.4 billion in August and focused on private corporate paper (+$6.8 billion). A divestment in federal and provincial government paper moderated the overall investment in August.
In the Canadian stock market, foreign investors reduced their holdings of shares by $6.7 billion in August, following an investment of $11.8 billion in July. On a sector basis, the divestment impacted most sectors in August, notably shares of the energy and mining industry. Despite the overall divestment, foreign investors acquired shares of the banking sector in the month. By the end of August, Canadian share prices, as measured by the Standard & Poor's (S&P)/Toronto Stock Exchange composite index, increased by 4.8% compared with the end of July.
Chart 3
Foreign investment in Canadian equity and investment fund shares
Strong Canadian investment in foreign shares
Canadian investors purchased $19.5 billion of foreign securities in August, continuing a trend of robust investment in these instruments and totalling $100.2 billion since the beginning of the year. The investment in August mainly targeted equity securities.
Canadian investors added $21.2 billion of foreign shares to their portfolio in August, led by investment in US shares (+$17.0 billion). In addition, they added $4.2 billion of non-US shares to their holdings, the highest investment since March 2024. By the end of August 2025, US share prices, as measured by the S&P 500 composite index, increased by 1.9% compared with the end of July, while the Euro Stoxx 50 index was stable.
Chart 4
Canadian investment in foreign equity and investment fund shares
Meanwhile, Canadian investors reduced their holdings of foreign debt securities by $1.7 billion in August. Following an investment of $13.2 billion in July, investors decreased their holdings of US government bonds by $7.9 billion in August. The overall divestment in the month was moderated by acquisitions of US corporate bonds, non-US bonds and US government paper.
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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 17.
Products
The International trade statistics portal is available on Statistics Canada website.
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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