Mutual funds generated $7.6 billion in net sales in February, pushing RRSP season sales to $13.0 billion, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) said Friday.
Industry net sales reached $7.63 billion, comprised of long-term fund net sales of $8.2 billion and money market net redemptions of $567.8 million, based on data compiled by both IFIC and Investor Economics Inc.
Year-to-date, long-term net sales were $14.5 billion, whereas money market redemptions reached $1.45 billion.
Balanced funds dominated the net sales charts in February, totaling $7.13 billion, compared to net sales of $4.1 billion in the previous month. Equity fund net sales also continued to grow, with net sales reaching $558.4 million, up from $272.5 million in January. Bond funds recorded net sales of just $249.1 million in the month, down from $1.3 billion in January.
In the year-to-date, net sales of balanced funds totaled $11.2 billion, compared to $7.4 billion for the same period last year. Bond fund net sales for the first two months of 2013 reached $1.55 billion, down from $5.25 billion for the same period in 2012. And, year-to-date net sales for equity funds totaled $830.9 million, compared to net redemptions of $2.05 billion last year.
Total mutual fund assets under management jumped to $891.8 billion in February, up by about $20.7 billion, or 2.4%, from the previous month.