ETFs ended 2019 on a high note, bringing in $4.6 billion in net sales in December, according to data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.
Sales increased in all asset classes tracked on a month over month basis, with long-term equity ($2.2 billion) and long-term bond ($1.6 billion) funds leading the charge. Long-term balanced ETFs raked in $182 million in net sales, almost double the $93 million sold in November.
At the end of the calendar year, and including money market funds, ETF assets totalled $205.1 billion, up more than 30% from the $156.6 billion in ETF assets at the end of 2018.
Net sales for mutual funds totalled $2.9 billion in December, with sales in long-term balanced ($1.9 billion) and long-term bond ($1.2 billion) funds offset by $1.2 billion in redemptions from long-term equity funds.
Mutual fund assets, also including money market funds, totalled $1.63 trillion at the end of the year, up from $1.42 trillion at the end of 2018.
In its release, IFIC noted that while mutual fund data was adjusted to “remove double counting arising from mutual funds that invest in other mutual funds,” ETF data was not. Also, mutual fund data only reflects retail activity while ETF data includes institutional investors.