Mutual fund sales end 2002 in the red

(January 3, 2003) For the ninth straight month, mutual fund sales finished in negative territory in December. Outflows last month will likely be around $200 million, says the Investment Funds Institute of Canada in its monthly fund sales estimate.

Based on preliminary data from members, redemptions could be as high as $400 million or sales could finish flat, IFIC says. That’s an improvement from the past few months. November’s outflows were $580 million and redemptions topped $1 billion in September and October.

“Net sales have increased over the previous month for the second consecutive month,” says IFIC president Tom Hockin. “Net redemptions for November are expected only to be approximately $200 million.”

Industry assets will be in the range of $389 to $394 billion, IFIC estimates, a 1.5% decrease from November.

Most of the major fund companies reported redemptions in December. However, AIM/Trimark and Mackenzie both reported positive numbers.

“December’s strong monthly sales are a fitting conclusion to a very successful year for Mackenzie,” said Mackenzie president David Feather.

Most of the smaller fund companies, including Synergy, Northwest, Acuity, Maestral and Meritas, reported net sales in December.

Filed by Doug Watt, Advisor.ca, dwatt@advisor.ca