Canadians dumped C$2.71 billion ($2.61 billion) of foreign bonds in August, mostly two-year U.S. government issues, and bought the same amount in foreign stocks, Statistics Canada said on Monday.

But 60 percent of the net foreign stock purchases were from countries outside the United States.

Canadians also sold C$263 million in U.S. Treasury bills while adding the biggest amount of paper from European banks since the start of the credit crisis in 2007. On a net basis, they sold C$111 million of money market instruments and C$112 million in foreign securities overall.

Foreigners, meanwhile, added C$5.08 billion in Canadian securities, mostly in bonds. Nearly all of the bond purchases were issued by the federal government and its enterprises.

They also bought C$1.69 billion worth of Canadian stocks, marking the seventh straight month of such purchases.

($1=$1.04 Canadian)