Foreign Investors Sell Canada Assets for First Time Since June

Foreign investors in December reduced their holdings of Canadian securities for the first time since June, as they received payment of matured bonds and sold equities, government figures showed.

Net sales totaled C$1.92 billion ($1.89 billion) in the month, following November’s revised purchase of C$5.5 billion, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. For the year, foreign investors bought a net C$83.2 billion of Canadian securities, the lowest since 2008 and down from C$97.3 billion in 2011.

Equity holdings fell a net C$6.68 billion during the month, while bond holdings by non-residents was down a net C$655 million. Retirement of bonds issued by the federal government and state businesses offset purchases in the secondary market, the agency said.

Non-residents purchased C$5.42 billion of money-market paper.

Canadians bought a net C$5.47 billion of foreign securities in December, the statistics agency said, led by purchases of bonds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Wellisz at cwellisz@bloomberg.net