OTTAWA (Reuters) – Foreign investors bought a net C$4.99 billion ($3.78 billion) in Canadian securities in August, following a revised C$1.87 billion in total sales in July and two months of divestment, Statistics Canada said on Wednesday.

Canadian investors sold a net C$4.71 billion worth of foreign securities, led by sales of foreign stocks.

Statistics Canada said foreign investors acquired Canadian debt instruments, but reduced their exposure to Canadian shares in August.

Non-resident investors added C$1.75 billion of Canadian bonds to their portfolios.

Foreign investment in government bonds totaled C$2.1 billion, the agency said, adding foreign investors reduced their holdings of corporate bonds in August in the first divestment since January.

Meanwhile, Statistics Canada said Canadian investors reduced their exposure to foreign equities by C$5.1 billion in August.

That divestment, the agency said, was spread across U.S. and non-U.S. foreign shares. U.S. stock prices declined 1.8% in August.

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