By Paul Vieira 
 

OTTAWA--Foreigners acquired Canadian securities in December, led by the acquisition of Canadian equities.

Meanwhile, Canadian investors added foreign securities in December after a divestment in the previous month, also focusing on equities.

Foreign investors bought a net 10.23 billion Canadian dollars ($7.82 billion) in Canadian securities in December, Statistics Canada said Friday. In the previous month, non-residents bought a net C$7.26 billion.

Canadians purchased a net C$6.66 billion in foreign securities in December, after selling C$7.97 billion from their portfolios in the previous month.

Overall, the transactions in December resulted in a net inflow of funds into Canada of C$3.58 billion into Canada and a record C$147.48 billion for all of 2016, the data agency.

Canada is running a sizable current-account deficit, meaning it requires money from abroad to help finance consumption and investment.

    Write to Paul Vieira at paul.vieira@wsj.com