Mutual fund assets surge past $2 trillion again: IFIC

Mutual fund assets climbed back over the $2-trillion mark in October, according to the latest data from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC).

The industry trade group reported that mutual fund net sales declined to $5.6 billion last month from $7.9 billion in the previous month. Yet assets surged by $44.3 billion or 2.2% to $2.03 trillion.

Market gains continued to drive the increase in industry assets, but sales have been notably stronger this year. Through the first 10 months of 2021, total net sales were over $104.4 billion, compared with $17.4 billion in the same period last year.

The dip in October net sales came as the bond and balanced categories both saw monthly net sales drop by about $1 billion.

Bond fund net sales came in at $367 million last month, down from $1.6 billion in September. And balanced fund sales were $3.3 billion, down from $4.3 billion.

Equities funds bucked the trend, however, with monthly net sales reaching $1.97 billion in October, up from $1.84 billion in September.

The equities category led the way in ETF net sales in October too, IFIC reported. Equities ETF sales jumped to $3.1 billion last month from just $221 million in September.

Overall, ETF net sales also rose, coming in at $4.3 billion last month, up from $2.6 billion in the previous month.

Alongside the increase in equities ETF net sales, bond sales dropped to $461 million in October from $1.7 billion in September.

Balanced fund sales also edged down to $212 million from $318 million.

Amid the increase in net sales, ETF assets jumped by 4.3% in October to $331.9 billion as assets rose by $13.5 billion in the month.

Staff

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