Net sales of mutual funds for the month of December are estimated to be between -$81.1 million and $418.8 million, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada said Tuesday.

The December numbers are based on a sample of preliminary data from some of IFIC’s members.

Scotia Securities led the way in the month, with $421 million in overall net sales, followed by Fidelity Investments Canada ULC and Dynamic Mutual Funds.

TD Asset Management led the sales of long-term funds in the month, with $575 million worth. Scotia ranked second at $448 million, with RBC taking third place at $445 million. However, RBC also recorded almost $1.2 billion in net redemptions from its money market funds.

“From a sales perspective in 2009, we have seen a complete turnaround of what happened in 2008, flows into long-term funds were close to $17.4 billion, compared to the $14.1 billion that flowed out in 2008,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice president of member services and communications with IFIC.

Net industry assets for the month with will be between $591.9 billion and $596.9 billion, up approximately 1.30% from last month’s total of $586.3 billion, IFIC said.

“Based on preliminary estimates, December 2009 ended on a positive note. Since the beginning of the year, mutual fund investors have seen their
mutual fund account balances increase by $87.4 billion or 17.2% – since the low at the end of February, balances have increased by $117.5 billion,” added Dunwoody.

IE