OTTAWA, June 17 (Xinhua) -- International transactions in securities generated a net outflow of about 8.7 billion Canadian dollars from Canada in April 2021, according to Statistics Canada on Thursday.
Canadian investors acquired 18.6 billion Canadian dollars in foreign securities in April, a twelfth consecutive month of investment, for a total of 140.9 billion Canadian dollars since May 2020. Investment activity in April was led by acquisitions of U.S. securities.
Canadian investment in foreign bonds was 9.7 billion Canadian dollars in April. Acquisitions of U.S. corporate bonds amounted to an unprecedented 5 billion Canadian dollars, led by purchases of Canadian dollar-denominated instruments issued by American financial corporations.
In addition, Canadian investors bought 2 billion Canadian dollars in U.S. government bonds and 2.8 billion Canadian dollars in non-U.S. foreign bonds, mainly government bonds. In April, U.S. long-term interest rates reached their highest levels since January 2020.
Foreign investors acquired 10 billion Canadian dollars in Canadian securities in April, the ninth consecutive monthly net purchase for a total of 63.9 billion Canadian dollars. Foreign investment over the month targeted government bonds, moderated by retirements of private corporate bonds. By comparison, acquisitions of equity securities accounted for the bulk of the foreign investment in the previous four months.
Overall, non-resident investors added 5.5 billion Canadian dollars in Canadian bonds to their holdings in April, following the divestment of 7.9 billion Canadian dollars in March.
Foreign investment in federal government bonds amounted to 8.4 billion Canadian dollars, the largest investment in one year.
This followed four consecutive months of divestment totaling 12.8 billion Canadian dollars.
In addition, foreign investors purchased 3.9 billion Canadian dollars of provincial government bonds, led by new issues of U.S. dollar-denominated instruments.
By contrast, foreign holdings of private corporate bonds were down 5.8 billion Canadian dollars in April, following a decline of 6.6 billion Canadian dollars in March. Retirements of bonds from the banking sector led the activity in both months.
Canadian long-term interest rates fell slightly in April, after an upward trend that began in October 2020. The Canadian dollar exchanged for 81.4 U.S. cents at the end of April, the highest level in six years.
One Canadian dollar is about 0.79 U.S. dollar. Enditem