Foreign demand for Canadian securities was up strongly in September, as non-residents added $13.6 billion to their portfolios largely through significant acquisitions of Canadian stocks.

Foreign investors also continued to rebalance their holdings of Canadian debt in favour of longer-term securities, mainly in the federal government sector.

Canadian investors, in contrast, removed $4.8 billion from their holdings of foreign securities in September, mainly bonds, the largest monthly divestment since last December.

Foreign investment in Canadian equities reached $12.9 billion, the largest inflow since April 2004.

Two-thirds of this activity was directed to new issues of Canadian shares.

At the same time, foreign demand for Canadian shares on secondary markets generated a $4.3 billion inflow, the most since April 2007.

Non-residents continued to adjust their portfolios of Canadian debt securities in September, acquiring $2.6 billion in Canadian bonds and disposing of $1.9 billion of Canadian money market instruments.

Canadians shed foreign bond holdings

Canadian investors sold $1.2 billion of foreign shares in September after three months of acquisitions, as equity prices in major North American and European stock markets posted gains.

The divestment activity was focused in non-U.S. foreign stocks, largely European stocks. At the same time, investment activity in U.S. stocks was sustained.

Canadians continued to dispose of foreign bonds, removing $4.1 billion from their holdings.

Canadians have reduced their exposure to foreign long-term debt securities by a total divestment of $29.7 billion since the outset of global credit concerns in the third quarter of 2007.

Canadians acquired $520 million in foreign money-market instruments in September, investing in U.S. paper but disposing of non-U.S. paper. Canadian investment in U.S. paper was mostly in Treasury bills.