Mutual funds continued to see positive net sales in January, driven by long-term net sales offsetting money market fund redemptions.

Based on a sample of preliminary data from some of its members, net sales of mutual funds for January are estimated to be between $314 million and $814 million, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada said Tuesday.

Among the firms reporting their numbers to IFIC, Dynamic Mutual Funds was the overall sales leader in January at $626 million, including $645 million in long-term net sales.

The only firm with greater long-term net sales is RBC, which had $793 million worth, but this was more than offset by almost $1.3 billion in money market redemptions. TD Asset Management ranks third in long-term net sales, with $565 million. But it also saw more than $500 million in money market redemptions.

Overall, Fidelity Investments Canada ULC was second to Dynamic, with $263 million in net sales, including $307 million in long-term sales. Scotia Securities Inc. was the only other firm with more than $100 million in overall net sales, at $192 million.

“This January we were seeing very strong portfolio rebalancing activity out of money market funds and back into the long-term fund categories,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice president of member services and communications with IFIC.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the mutual fund industry for the month of January will be between $581 billion and $586 billion, down approximately 1.97% from last month’s total of $595.2 billion.

IE