Foreign investment in Canadian securities continues to slow

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Foreign investment in Canadian securities slowed in July for the fourth straight month, largely because purchases of stocks collapsed from the 12-year highs seen in June, Statistics Canada said on Friday. Non-residents purchased a net C$5.23 billion ($3.96 billion) in securities, down from C$9.02 billion in June and C$14.00 billion in May. They bought C$6.22 billion in bonds, mostly issued by the federal government, while selling C$2.91 billion in money market paper. Foreigners bought C$1.91 billion in Canadian equities, down sharply from the C$13.41 billion they snapped up in June, when companies issued new shares to foreign portfolio investors as a result of cross-border mergers and acquisitions. Foreign purchases of Canadian equities from January to July totaled C$28.13 billion, much higher than the C$4.66 billion recorded in the first six months of 2015. Canadian stock prices rose 3.7 percent in July from June and were up 12.1 percent year to date. At the same time, Canadians bought a net C$4.63 billion worth of foreign securities in July, mainly in U.S. debt and equity instruments. (Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)