Mutual fund sales came in at $1.9 billion for July, according to the latest data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

Net sales, excluding re-invested distributions of $664.1 million, totalled $1.9 billion in the month. Net sales for all funds, including re-invested distributions, stood at $2.6 billion. Long-term net sales reached $2.2 billion.

Balanced funds led the way, with $1.1 billion in monthly net sales; followed closely by dividend and income funds at $895 million; and, bond funds added another $635 million in sales. Redemptions continued from each of the pure equity categories (foreign equity, Canadian equity and U.S. equity), led by $246.5 million in redemptions from foreign equity funds.

The strong balanced fund net sales put that category on top through the first seven months of the year, generating almost $7.4 billion in net sales for the period, up from $3.6 billion a year ago. Dividend funds are close behind at $7.1 billion in net sales through July.

Year to date, long-term net sales are ahead of last year’s pace, with $16 billion in net sales this year, compared with $13.8 billion in the period a year ago. Counting all funds, 2005 net sales are also ahead of 2004’s sales pace, $14.8 billion to $13.9 billion. However, the foreign, U.S. and Canadian equity categories are in net redemptions so far for 2005.

Total assets under management in July increased 3.3% from June to an all-time high of $544.5 billion.

Among the top 10 firms, CI Investments, Fidelity Investments Canada and BMO Investments all saw assets increase by more than 4%, well ahead of the industry average.

Among smaller firms, Dynamic Mutual Funds, Manulife Investments, Guardian Group of Funds, Brandes Investment Partners, Standard Life Mutual Funds, Acuity Funds, Saxon Funds Management, Sentry Select and Mawer Investment Management all enjoyed gains of more than 5%. Acuity led the way with a 9.9% jump in assets.

Relatively weak players include Scotia Securities and AIC, although even they reported asset gains in the month.

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