Mutual fund net sales slipped in April, but still came in higher than they were in the same month last year, according to data released Friday by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).
IFIC reports that overall net sales for April were just under $4.6 billion, which is down from $7.7 billion for the previous month. However, compared with April 2013, net sales were up from its monthly total of $3.7 billion.
Long-term fund net sales totalled $4.8 billion in April 2014, and money market funds had net redemptions of $192.5 million, IFIC reports.
The vast majority of the net sales continue to come in the balanced fund category, where sales totalled $3.9 billion in April; although this was down from last month’s total of $5.65 billion.
Bond fund net sales totalled $305.5 million in April, which was actually up a bit from $258.7 million for March. However, equity funds produced net sales of just $78.3 million in April, which is well down from net sales of $1.5 billion in March.
Total mutual fund assets under management (AUM) continued to climb in April, finishing the month at $1.07 trillion, which was up by $11.5 billion from the previous months close, or about 1.1%. Over the past 12 months, total mutual fund assets have increased by 17.7%, IFIC says.
Data for the report is compiled from several sources, including IFIC, and aggregate totals are provided by Investor Economics.