Mutual fund sales topped $2.4 billion in October, with half of that coming from money market funds, according to the latest data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

Total industry sales in September were $1 billion, while last October’s sales were $1.7 billion.

Pat Dunwoody, IFIC’s vice president, member services & communications, said, “Investors moved $1.2 billion into money market funds this month — the highest inflow for money market funds since December 2001.”

On the long-term side, global balanced funds were the biggest seller, with $787 million in monthly net sales. On the equity side, international equity funds continue to lead the way, with $226 million in net sales. However, domestic equity funds also produced net sales of $2.8 million, which is the first time since March 2006 that the asset class was not in net redemptions.

In the year-to-date, net sales have more than doubled last year’s total, surpassing $30 billion, compared with less than $15 billion for the same period last year. Balanced funds have contributed $21.4 billion of the total, led by $16.3 billion in global balanced funds. Domestic equity funds are in net redemptions for the period, at $5.7 billion.

In October, RBC Asset Management led the way with $914 million in net sales, although $583 million of that came in money market funds. Dynamic Mutual Funds took second place, with $393 million in net sales. It also led the long-term sales at $403 million.

TD Asset Management ranked third in overall net sales, but it was in net redemptions in its long-term funds. Money market funds contributed all of its sales.

Several firms had long-term redemptions, including AIM Trimark Investments, CIBC Asset Management, and AIC. Firms in overall redemptions include AIM, National Bank, and AIC, among others.

For the 12 month period ending in October, long-term fund assets grew $73.8 billion or 12.6% to end at $659.8 billion. For the same period, long-term fund sales were $32.3 billion, or 5.5% of previous year assets. This was the highest October to October change since the period ending October 1998 when net sales were $36.9 billion.

For October, assets under management grew just under 1.2% from September to $709.8 billion. Sales into stand-alone funds and fund-of-funds were $1.5 billion and $867 million respectively for October. This compares with $685 million and $983 million at this time last year. Year-to-date sales were strongest for fund-of-fund products at $18.8 billion, yet stand-alone funds were not far behind at $11.4 billion.

“The estimated market effect for long-term funds averaged -0.1% per month over the last six months which likely contributed to the popularity of money market funds this month. However, capital markets performed well in October with assets under management rising to $709.8 billion up $8.4 billion from September,” she added.