‘Acquisitions of equities were moderated by sales of US government debt instruments in the month, for which Canadian investors have reduced their exposure in each of the last five months.’ – Statistics Canada
The Canadian capital inflows rose less than expected in December, official data showed on Friday. Statistics Canada reported foreign investment in the country’s government securities surged to $10.2B in the reported month, following the preceding month’s $7.3B, whereas economists penciled in an increase of $11.6B. On the positive side, total inflows increased compared with the previous year’s $106.0B to $161.3B in 2016. In the meantime, net inflows of debt securities rose to $107.9B in the reported year from $91.6B in 2015. This increase was mainly driven by solid growth of inflows into debt securities issued by corporations. In volume terms, equity inflows rose to $9.7B in the 12th month of the year. On a yearly basis, the value of investment into equities increased from $14.4B to $53.4B. In addition, Statistics Canada reported the sum of outflows in 2016 declined sharply to $13.8B from $60.2B previously, as investors dampened their interest for cross-border assets.
