Mutual fund sales for March totalled $3.6 billion, excluding re-invested distributions of $1 billion, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada reported.

Net sales for all funds, including re-invested distributions, stood at $4.7 billion. Most of the sales were in long-term mutual funds, led by almost $1.5 billion into balanced funds. Dividend funds added $950 million in net sales. The pure equity categories all turned in positive net sales, led by $674 million for foreign equity funds. U.S. equity funds saw $135 million in net sales, and just $79 million went into Canadian equity funds. Bond funds enjoyed $523 million in net sales during the month.

For the first quarter, net sales are up modestly from $9.4 billion last year to $10.1 billion this year. The asset allocation story for the quarter is similar to that in March, balanced funds led the way with $4.3 billion in net sales, followed by dividend funds at $2.9 billion and bond funds at $2.4 billion.

In contrast to the same period last year, equity funds were in positive net sales for the quarter this year. Foreign equity funds led the way with almost $1.6 billion in net sales, with U.S. equities contributing $341 million, and Canadian equities adding $263 million. Last year, all three categories were in net redemptions for the period.

Much of the flow into pure equity funds appears to coming from dividend funds, which saw sales drop year over year from $4.2 billion last year to $2.9 billion this year.

Total assets under management are estimated at more than $608.6 billion, up 3.3% from the prior month. Among the big firms, some of the biggest asset gainers include CI Investments (up 4.9%), Fidelity Investments (up 4.3%), AGF Management (up 4.5%), and Dynamic Mutual Funds, which gained 5.1%.

Among smaller firms, Brandes Investment Partners, Standard Life Mutual Funds, Mawer Investment Management and Saxon Funds all enjoyed strong asset gains.