TORONTO - The Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board says it's working to strengthen its foothold in emerging markets such as China, India and Brazil as it strives to keep up with shifts in the global economy. "If you look at market cap and GDP, the trend is clear that the balance of economic activity is moving, at least on a proportional basis, to the developing world," said Don Raymond, the board's chief investment strategist. "We will broadly mirror that in both our active and passive portfolio activities."

OTTAWA - Statistics Canada says non-resident investors acquired $1.2 billion of Canadian securities in March, led by investment in government bonds. The agency says the purchases of bonds were largely moderated by continued reductions in foreign holdings of money market instruments. It says Canadian investors added $3.8 billion of foreign securities to their holdings in March, following a $4.3 billion acquisition in February. Foreign investment in Canadian bonds slowed for a second straight month, reaching $5.2 billion in March.

Christie's in New York fetched nearly half a billion dollars (385 million euros) on Wednesday at an auction of contemporary art, in what was a record haul. The amount raised passed the February 2009 auction of the 700-item art collection of the late Yves Saint Laurent and his longtime partner Pierre Berge which netted 342 million euros. Sales of works by Jackson Pollock, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Roy Lichtenstein contributed to the New York haul.

A blockbuster auction of Contemporary art in New York, including a record $58.4 million for a Jackson Pollock drip painting, fetched nearly half a billion dollars on Wednesday -- the biggest haul ever at an art auction. Christie's said its sale raised a "staggering" total of $495,021,500, with 94 percent of lots finding buyers. Nine of the works sold went for more than $10 million and 23 for more than $5 million.