The Canadian mutual fund industry finished the first quarter of 2012 with $3.45 billion in monthly net sales, according to the latest data released Monday by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

Based on data collected by Investor Economics Inc., IFIC said that industry net sales for March came in at $3.45 billion, pushing year-to-date net sales to $13.2 billion. Once again, the sales were all in long-term funds.

Long-term fund net sales for the month were $4.15 billion. And in the year-to-date, long-term net sales are now at $15.6 billion. But, money market funds remain in net redemptions, with $706.6 million worth in March. Year-to-date, money market net redemptions are $2.44 billion.

By asset class, balanced funds led the net sales in March, generating $3.0 billion in net sales, down from $5.5 billion last month. Bond funds net sales totaled $1.8 billion in March, compared to net sales of $2.9 billion last month.

However, equity funds recorded net redemptions of $884.8 million for the month, compared to net redemptions of $990.4 million in February month. Year-to-date, net redemptions for equity funds totaled $2.9 billion, compared to net sales of $1.17 billion for the same period last year.

IFIC also reported that total mutual fund assets under management at month end were $813.0 billion, up from $810.4 billion in February; an increase of $2.63 billion, or 0.3%.