Mutual fund net sales slumped in August while ETFs held up better, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).
The industry trade group reported that monthly net sales for mutual funds came in at $2.4 billion, less than half the $5.2 billion recorded in July.
Long-term mutual fund net sales were a bit stronger at $2.8 billion, led by $2.5 billion in bond fund net sales — although this figure was down from $3.3 billion in July.
Equity fund sales also dropped, to $1.1 billion last month from $2.1 billion in July. Specialty fund sales eased a bit too, declining to $547 million in August from $800 million in July.
At the same time, balanced funds edged deeper into net redemptions in August, with the monthly total climbing to $1.4 billion, up from just over $1 billion in July.
And, money-market funds recorded $420 million in monthly net redemptions. IFIC noted that this marked the largest monthly outflow total since November 2021, “largely the result of outflows from high-interest saving account funds.”
Despite the softer net sales activity, mutual fund assets under management climbed by $7.7 billion in August to $2.15 trillion, up 0.4% in the month.
ETFs enjoyed stronger gains, with assets rising 1.3% in the month to $464.0 billion, an increase of $5.9 billion.
Net sales contributed the bulk of the asset gains, with August sales reaching $4.3 billion.
This was down from July’s monthly net sales of just under $5.0 billion. However, as with mutual funds, long-term sales were stronger, coming in at $4.4 billion compared with $4.7 billion in July.
Money-market ETFs recorded $94 million in monthly net redemptions, which was a reversal from $310 million in positive net sales for the category in July.
Equity ETFs continued leading the way with $1.75 billion in monthly net sales, down a bit from $2.4 billion in July.
Bond fund sales were also a bit weaker, coming in at $1.2 billion in August, down from $1.46 billion in July.
Specialty fund sales surged to $991 million in August, up from $254 million in July — outpacing balanced ETF sales, which came in at $464 million last month, down from $558 million in July.
IFIC noted that ETF inflows are up this year, coming in at $41.6 billion for the first eight months of the year, almost double the $22.9 billion recorded in the same period last year.