By Paul Viera
OTTAWA — Foreigners stepped up their purchases of Canadian securities sharply in March, while Canadian investors sold their foreign holdings, resulting in the largest monthly and quarterly net inflows of funds into the economy on record.
Non-resident investors bought a net amount of 46.94 billion Canadian dollars, or the equivalent of 36.54 billion US dollars, in Canadian securities in March, Statistics Canada announced on Tuesday. Over the previous month, foreigners added C$7.49 billion in Canadian securities. The data agency said it was the biggest one-month purchase by foreigners of Canadian securities since April 2020.
The bulk of purchases by foreign investors were in corporate bonds issued by Canadian banks and stocks of manufacturing and transportation companies.
Meanwhile, Canadian investors sold C$23.98 billion net in foreign securities, compared to a net sale of C$9.91 billion the previous month. The divestment has focused on foreign stocks, Statistics Canada said, particularly large-cap tech stocks.
Following investment flows in March, international transactions generated a net inflow of funds into the Canadian economy of C$70.92 billion in March and nearly C$120 billion in the first quarter, which the data agency said was the highest so far in three years. – period of months.
The monthly International Securities Report covers portfolio transactions in stocks and mutual fund shares, bonds and money market instruments for Canadian and foreign issues. This activity excludes equity and debt transactions between affiliated companies.
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