Mutual fund sales ramped up in November, outpacing ETFs for a change — and fund assets soared on the strength of robust markets, according to new data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).
The industry trade group reported that mutual fund net sales reached $6.2 billion last month, up from $3.4 billion in the previous month and $2.2 billion in the same month last year.
Long-term mutual fund sales were even stronger, coming in at $7.25 billion for the month, which was offset by over $1 billion in redemptions from money market funds.
Most of the gain came in equity funds, which recorded $3.8 billion in monthly net sales after posting $3 million in redemptions in October.
Balanced fund sales also climbed to almost $2.8 billion from $1.2 billion in the previous month.
These surges were tempered by a decline in bond fund sales, which dropped to $250 million in November from $1.8 billion in October.
Mutual fund sales surpassed ETF sales, which came in at $3.2 billion in November.
This was up from just under $2 billion in October but down from the same month last year, when ETF sales totalled $4 billion.
Equity ETF sales gained ground last month, rising to over $2 billion from $1.3 billion in October.
Bond ETF sales were up too, rising to $975 million in November from $242 million in October.
Balanced funds held steady, and specialty ETF sales jumped to $186 million from $88 million.
While sales were relatively strong in both segments, markets were even stronger, boosting fund assets substantially.
IFIC reported that mutual fund assets climbed by $104 billion in November, rising 6.3% to finish the month at $1.75 trillion.
ETF assets grew even faster, jumping by 7.7% (about $18 billion) to $250.1 billion.