Mutual fund net sales reached $1.8 billion in September, pushing the sales total for the first nine months of the year to almost $18.4 billion.

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada also reported re-invested distributions of $948.8 million. Including that contribution, net sales for all funds reached $2.8 billion.

“September’s net sales helped bolster sales for the first nine months, taking them to $18.4 billion, the highest net sales figure since the same period in 2001,” said Tom Hockin, president and CEO of IFIC, in a release.

Balanced funds led the way in September, garnering over $1 billion in net sales. They were followed closely by bond & income funds, which had $936.3 million in net sales. Dividend funds also managed $702.3 million in net sales.

Pure equity funds remained in net redemptions however, with foreign equity funds recording $359 million in redemptions. Canadian equity funds had $276 million in redemptions. U.S. equity funds saw almost $115 million of redemptions.

In the year to date, balanced funds are the hottest category, with almost $9.4 billion in net sales. Dividend funds are still holding second place, with $8.6 billion in sales. Bond funds are third at $6.1 billion. Again the pure equity funds are seeing net redemptions during the same period, led by $2.75 billion from redemptions in the foreign equity category.

Total assets under management in September increased 1.3% from August to an all-time high of $554.2 billion. “Of special note is the fact that assets under management have broken through to an alltime high of $500 billion for long-term funds,” Hockin added. “This underlines the fact that investors are making long-term commitments to funds and not simply parking their investments temporarily in money market funds.”

Among the big firms, the banks continued to enjoy stronger than average asset gains, reflecting their strong sales flows. RBC Asset Management reported assets were up 2.6% in the month. BMO Investments saw assets rise 2.7%. Higher than average gains were also reported by CI Investments, TD Asset Management and Fidelity Investments Canada.

Notably, AIM Trimark saw assets decline 0.9% in the month. CIBC Asset Management saw assets increase just 0.5%.

Among smaller players, Dynamic Mutual Funds, PH&N, Manulife Investments, Standard Life Mutual Funds, Brandes Investment Partners, and Acuity Funds all had strong asset gains.

Asset declines were reported by AIC, and MD Management Ltd.