Foreigners maintain large-scale purchases of Canada securities

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Foreign investment in Canadian securities, particularly bonds, remained strong in November and was on track to hit an annual record, Statistics Canada data indicated on Friday.

International investors bought a net C$19.56 billion ($15.65 billion) in Canadian securities after acquiring C$20.77 billion in October.

In the first 11 months of 2017, foreign investors snapped up C$190.35 billion in Canadian securities, up from C$161.10 billion over the same time frame in 2016. The previous yearly record for purchases was the C$171.77 billion in 2016.

Non-residents bought C$17.75 billion worth of Canadian bonds, around half of which were federal bonds, and C$2.32 billion in money market paper. They sold C$507 million in stocks.

Canadians sold a net C$4.59 billion of international securities in November, the first divestment in four months. Record sales of C$5.77 billion of U.S. shares were moderated by purchases of other foreign stocks.

(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)