Mutual funds gained momentum and far outpaced sales of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in September, according to new data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).
The industry trade group reported that mutual funds recorded $1.3 billion in net sales at the end of September, up from $576 million in August.
The upswing is attributed to an increase in long-term fund sales, generating $892 million in net sales after recording $78 million in net redemptions in August. Of that, bond fund sales were almost $2.6 billion, up from $1.5 billion in August, which offset the $2.5 billion in equity fund net redemptions.
Conversely, ETF sales cooled to $562 million in total net sales in September, down from $2.6 billion in August.
The weakness in ETF net sales came as more than $1 billion flowed out of equity funds after net sales of $2.3 billion the previous month. The influx of $1 billion in bond fund net sales was not enough to offset the equity outpour.
Both mutual fund and ETF assets under management (AUM) increased in September.
IFIC reports that mutual fund assets totalled $1.58 trillion at the end of the month, representing a 0.7% increase from $1.57 trillion in August.
ETF assets grew faster, gaining 1% on August numbers, totalling $187.9 billion at the end of September.