Saudi officials have instructed asset managers to dispose of Canadian holdings

Saudi to sell off Canadian assets

The Saudi central bank and pensions funds have instructed overseas asset managers to dispose of Canadian equities, bonds and cash holdings, according to an FT report.

The Saudi sovereign wealth fund holds around $500 billion of foreign assets.

The report says the selloff began on Tuesday. That might help to explain yesterday's slump in the Canadian dollar especially since the report says they were instructed to sell "no matter the cost".

Saudi Arabia has been trying to make an example of Canada after Chrystia Freeland, Canada's foreign minister, called for the release of Samar Badawi, a prominent Saudi women's rights activist.

I'm not having much luck tracking down any hints about which Canadian assets that Saudi funds have invested in. Their funds are largely in Treasuries and sovereign debt with select investments in equities, like the revelation they own 3-5% of Tesla, as reported by the FT yesterday.

USD/CAD hit a session high of 1.3120 on the headline.

Saudi Arabia's state-run media tweeted the above image on Monday before quickly deleting it.