OTTAWA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Foreigners poured C$22.08 billion
($16.12 billion) into Canadian securities in October, their
highest net acquisition in six months and up from C$3.35 billion
in September, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday. The vast
majority was in bonds.
For the year to date, foreign investment in Canadian
securities now totaled C$97.53 billion, the highest since the
first 10 months of 2010.
Part of the increase was because Statistics Canada as of
September's data started including covered bonds, which are
issued by banks and secured by a segregated pool of assets. A
Statscan official said foreign purchases of covered bonds
amounted to a few billion dollars in October.
Previously, covered bonds were classified under currency and
deposit liabilities in the "other investment" category of the
balance of payments.
However, C$10.23 billion of the foreign acquisitions was in
government bonds, the highest level since May 2014. Overall
foreign investment in Canadian bonds jumped to C$15.44 billion
in October from a mere C$896 million in September, almost evenly
split between foreign acquisitions on the secondary market and
new issues placed abroad, the agency said.
($1=$1.37 Canadian)
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Graphic - Canada economic dashboard http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/15/sc-canada/index.html
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