Mutual funds recorded another $1.6 billion in net sales for March, pushing the first quarter total up to $5.4 billion from $3.4 billion a year ago.

March sales of almost $4 billion in long-term fund were offset by $2.32 billion in money market fund redemptions, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada said Thursday.

First quarter net sales included $12.2 billion in long-term sales, up from net redemptions of $348.4 million for the same period last year

In March, sales were concentrated in the balanced fund and fixed income categories, IFIC said. Balanced fund sales totalled $3.4 billion, up from net redemptions of $131.9 million in March 2009. For the first quarter, balanced fund net sales were $9.35 billion, up from net redemptions of $152.7 million last year.

Fixed income fund sales were $1.04 billion in March, up from $568.8 million for the same month last year. Fixed income sales totalled $3.12 billion in the first quarter, compared to $1.76 billion last year.

Equity funds were in redemptions in March, totaling $502.6 million, down from net sales of $104.5 million in February, but up from redemptions of $685.6 million for the same month last year. Equity fund redemptions for the first quarter of 2010 were $368.5 million, down from net redemptions of $1.75 billion at the same point last year, IFIC noted.

It also reported that total assets were $618 billion in March, up by $120.6 billion from March 2009 (although this includes $6.86 billion in new assets from Russell Investment Group, which begins reporting to IFIC as of the current month).

“First quarter sales and asset growth was superb. Assets surpassed the $600 billion mark last month and long-term fund sales were higher than they’ve been for the past two RRSP seasons and were almost 80% as high as in 2007 — the peak sales year before the market downturn,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice president of member services and communications with IFIC.

“While the bulk of the sales strength continues to come from the fixed income and balanced fund side of the business, we are seeing some solid numbers from certain categories within the equity fund space like Canadian dividend & income equity and emerging markets equity,” she said.

Dynamic Funds led the overall sales charts, with $529.8 million. It was followed by Fidelity Investments Canada ULC, and TD Asset Management. RBC Asset Management was the leading long-term seller at $775.1 million, followed by TDAM and Dynamic.

IE