US stocks were the main focus with large cap tech firms the clear favourite
Canadian investors continue to load up on US stocks in June, the latest month of data published by Statistics Canada.
Large cap technology firms were clearly in their sites and helped push the value of US shares acquired by Canadians to almost $21 billion, the second highest on record.
In total, there were $28.1 billion in foreign securities acquired by Canadian investors, marking a new record high. It takes the total for the first half of 2021 to $94.2 billion, compared to a divestment of $21.2 billion in the same period of last year.
Along with shares, investors added more than $6 billion in foreign debt securities to their portfolios, split almost equally between US government treasuries and non-US foreign bonds.
Foreign investors buy Canadian money market
Inflows of investment from non-resident investors totalled $19.6 billion.
The Canadian money market was the main focus ($18.8bn) and foreign purchases of Canadian securities totalled $63.5 billion in the first six months of 2021, down from $90 billion in the same period of 2020.
Foreign bond market investors pulled back from Canadian notes in June, selling $52 million worth following combined total purchases of more than $23 billion in April and May.
But there was a return to Canadian equities for these investors. In May, they had divested $3.3 billion in equities, but June saw a modest $918 million in purchases. Information and cultural industries were their main focus.
Canada's international transactions in securities, June 2021: Canadian investors acquired a record $28.1 billion in foreign securities in June, largely purchases of US shares. https://t.co/88fJmFp74o pic.twitter.com/VMYgrgq1da
— Statistics Canada (@StatCan_eng) August 17, 2021
