OTTAWA - Foreigners bought $11.77 billion worth of Canadian securities in September, setting a new record for investment for the first nine months of the year, Statistics Canada said on Thursday.

Non-resident investors snapped up $11.48 billion worth of bonds, primarily in new issues placed abroad by Canadian private corporations. They also bought $5.69 billion worth of stocks while selling $5.40 billion in money market paper.

Foreign purchases of Canadian securities from January to September hit an all-time high of $119.92 billion, much greater than the $82.37 billion amassed in the first nine months of 2015.

"Most of this increase reflected higher foreign investment in Canadian equities, mainly resulting from cross-border mergers and acquisitions activity," Statscan said in its daily bulletin.

At the same time, Canadians invested a net $1.81 billion in foreign securities. Purchases of non-U.S. foreign shares hit 8.64 billion, the highest monthly total since December 2000, but were largely offset by sales of bonds and U.S. equities.