The mutual fund industry suffered yet another month of modest net redemptions, according to the latest data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

IFIC reported that March net sales, excluding re-invested distributions of $581 million, totaled minus $107 million. The weakness was centered in the money market area, as the important long-term funds saw modestly positive net sales of $265 million.

“For the second straight month, long-term fund sales were slightly positive at $265 million,” said Tom Hockin, IFIC’s president and CEO. “We see some indication that some investors are looking to focus on longer-term commitments within their RRSPs. Similar to past months, the overall net redemptions can be traced to redemptions in money market funds.”

For the first quarter, the industry saw a mere $90 million in net redemptions, thanks to $782 million in long-term net sales and $873 million in redemptions from money market funds.

In March, investors continued to show their caution by making their long-term investments in bond and dividend funds. The bond funds led the way in the month with $393 million in net sales. Dividend funds managed $191 million in net sales during the month.

However, the foreign equity funds suffered $227.8 million in net redemptions and the Canadian equity funds dropped $185.4 million in net redemptions.

Total assets under management decreased in March to $369.4 billion, down 1.5% from $375.2 billion in February. Assets are down 17% from last March’s figure of $445.3 billion.

On an asset basis, some of the month’s weakest performances were turned in by Franklin Templeton, AGF, and CI among the big players. Among smaller players, Altamira and Brandes both had a tough time, with assets dropping more than 4%.

The firms that held up best included AIM Trimark, TD, Scotia, and PH&N. A handful of smaller firms actually saw asset gains in the month, including Manulife, Guardian, Standard Life, Mawer and Northwest.

IFIC also reported the total number of member unitholder accounts at 52.9 million, a 0.1% increase over one year ago.