Mutual funds were back in vogue in October, as the Canadian industry attracted between $1.1 billion and $1.6 billion in net sales, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).
Much of the enthusiasm can be attributed to surging market returns, says Jon Cockerline, director of policy, dealer issues, at IFIC.
“[This] has been an excellent year thus far for mutual fund investors. Collectively, they have seen a $48 billion or 8.4% increase in their account balances of which, nearly $40 billion or 7% has been due to market performance,” he said in a press release.
“Improved market performance has resulted in strong long-term fund sales demand with sales $8 billion higher than at this point last year. Long-term fund sales results for 2010 are also in line with, and are fast approaching the sales experience in 2007 before the downturn.”
Net assets of the mutual fund industry for the month of October are estimated to be between $611.5 billion and $616.5 billion, a gain of about 1.58% from September’s total of $604.6 billion.
RBC Global Asset Management announced October net sales of $394 million, with long-term funds contributing $776 million, while money market funds saw net redemptions of $382 million. Assets under management increased by $1.7 billion or 1.7%.
“We held our industry-leading position in net sales once again, as October proved to be an exceptional month for our long-term mutual funds,” said Doug Coulter, president of RBC Global Asset Management Inc. “Given the low interest rate environment and the record level of investment dollars in cash and cash equivalent products, advisors and investors continued to favour our income-oriented investment solutions.”
DundeeWealth reported $314 million in net mutual fund sales, with $339 million in long-term fund sales only slightly offset by $25 million in money market redemptions.
TD Mutual Funds reported total net sales of $302 million for October, with long-term fund net sales of $367 million and money market fund net redemptions of $65 million. Total AUM was $59 billion as of the end of the month, up 1.7% from the end of September.
“October was a very solid month for us, with total net sales up 91% over last year,” said Thomas Dyck, president of TD Mutual Funds. “Our fixed income funds were our strongest selling for the month, however we continue to see investors gradually moving back into equities primarily through diversified, balanced products.”
CI Financial reported net retail sales $46 million for the month of October, consisting of $40 million in net long-term fund sales, and $6 million in money market net sales. Total assets under management increased 2.2% month-over-month to $68.2 billion.
Mackenzie Financial reported net redemptions of $182 million, consisting of $140.6 million in outflows from long-term funds and $41.4 million from money market funds. Market gains drove mutual fund assets under management higher by $2.5 billion, to end the month at $41.8 billion.
Investors Group reported $19.5 million net redemptions, including $17 million in outflows from long-term funds and $2.5 million from money markets. By month end, mutual fund assets under management were $59.8-billion.
Counsel Portfolio Services, a division of Investment Planning Counsel, reported $18.5 million in net new money, with long-term funds attracting $16.9 million in new capital, and money markets picking up $1.6 million. Mutual fund assets under management were $2.39 billion at month end.
AGF Management reported total net redemptions of $120.7 million, consisting of $108.7 million in long-term funds and $12 million in money market funds. At month end, mutual fund AUM totaled $22.5 billion.
(11/02/10)