Mutual fund net sales for July are estimated to be between $1.4 billion to $1.9 billion, according to preliminary data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

Net sales in July 2004 amounted to $544 million.

The banks continue to lead the way, with RBC Asset Management reporting $493 million in net sales, followed by TD Asset Management at $250 million and BMO Funds at $205 million. The only other firm to crack the $200 million mark was CI Investments, which recorded $244 million in monthly net sales.

IGM Financial ranked fifth with $119 million in net sales, followed closely by National Bank Mutual Funds, PH&N and Manulife Investments.

Not all the banks are enjoying strong sales however, Scotia Securities reported $113 million in net redemptions for the month. CIBC Asset Management had modest net redemptions too. Although both firms recorded positive long-term net sales, heavy redemptions from their money market funds pushed them into overall redemptions.

TD also suffered $175 million in money market redemptions, otherwise it boasted very strong long-term net sales of $401 million.

AIC reported another $211 million in redemptions. Fidelity Investments, Altamira and Northwest Mutual Funds recorded redemptions too. All of these firms recorded long-term net redmeptions, according to IFIC’s data.

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the industry at the end of July will be in the range of $541 billion to $546 billion, up approximately 3.2% from last month’s total of $526.9 billion.

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