Fund sales slow in November

Tough market conditions appear to have cut into mutual fund sales in November, as the industry managed to only pull in between $1.56 billion and $2.06 billion in fresh capital, according to the preliminary estimates by IFIC.

“Early indications are that money market sales were particularly strong in November. This was due to two trends IFIC has observed over the past three months — an increase in U.S. money market fund sales caused by the appreciation of the Canadian dollar and an increase in Canadian money market sales in response to continued uncertainty in capital markets in general,” said Pat Dunwoody, vice-president of member services and communications with IFIC. “Decreases in most indices in November contributed to the 1.9% reduction in assets under management expected for the month.”

Tough market conditions shaved overall asset value from the industry, though. IFIC estimates that net assets of the mutual fund industry at the end of November will be in the range of $694 billion to $699 billion, down approximately 1.9% from last month’s total of $709.8 billion.

AGF Management announced its sales independently, revealing net long term fund sales of just $10.8 million for the month, on gross sales of $398.9 million.

RBC managed to pull in $276 million in new long term fund sales, while money market funds added a whopping $1.037 billion in net sales, likely signaling a institutional investment.

Dynamic also enjoyed relatively strong positive sales, with $152 million in new cash flowing into its long term funds.

CI Financial reported its sales on Monday, with net redemptions of $8 million in its long term funds, offset by $53 million in money market net sales.

AIM Trimark was hit with net redemptions in its long term funds, totalling $454 million.

Filed by Steven Lamb, Advisor.ca, steven.lamb@advisor.rogers.com