Net sales for the mutual fund net industry slipped in December, but still finished 2012 at much stronger levels than in the previous year, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).
According to numbers compiled by IFIC wih some data by Investor Economics, industry net sales for December totaled $1.87 billion, down from $2.65 billion in November. However, this was still up from $1.1 billion in net sales in December 2012.
For the year-to-date, net sales were $30.4 billion, IFIC said; which is up from the $21.2 billion for 2011.
In December, long-term funds’ net sales were $2.14 billion. This pushed 2012 year-to-date long-term sales to $36.6 billion, up from $27.2 billion in 2011.
Money market funds remained in net redemptions in December, with $264.2 million worth, taking 2012 year-to-date net redemptions to $6.23 billion.
Balanced funds led the sales in December, totaling $1.88 billion, which is down from $2.5 billion in November. For the year, balanced fund sales were more or less unchanged at $27.4 billion.
Bond funds had net sales of $1.12 billion in December, which was down from $1.59 billion in November. However, 2012 year-to-date net sales totaled $19.0 billion; more than double the net sales of $8.87 billion for the same period last year.
Equity funds continued to suffer net redemptions. In December, equity fund redemptions totaled $1.2 billion compared to $1.4 billion in November. Equity funds redemptions totaled $14.1 billion for 2012, compared to $10.8 billion for 2011.
Total mutual fund assets under management (AUM) finished the year at $849.7 billion, up from $837.6 billion in November, which represents a 1.5% gain. Compared with December 2011, total mutual fund assets increased by $80.1 billion, or 10.4%.