Mutual fund net sales ticked down a bit in December, but for the full year, sales were up significantly compared with 2012.

The Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) reports (based on its own data and data from Investor Economics Inc.) that industry net sales for December were $2.92 billion, which is down from over $4.0 billion in November.

However, for the full year 2013, net sales totalled $41.9 billion, up from $30.4 billion in 2012.

Long-term sales for 2013 totalled $45.2 billion, up from $36.6 billion in 2012.

In December, net sales of long-term funds were $2.8 billion, down from $4.2 billion in November. Money market funds recorded net sales of $152.8 million in the month, up from $208 million in net redemptions in November.

Balanced funds led the way in December, with net sales of $3.08 billion, which was down a bit from $3.6 billion in November. The balanced category was also far and away the leading asset class for the year, with total net sales of $40.4 billion, compared to net sales of $27.4 billion for 2012.

Equity funds had net sales of $191.2 million in December, down from $1.3 billion in November. For the year, equity fund net sales totalled $5.65 billion, compared to net redemptions of $14.1 billion in 2012.

Bond funds were in net redemptions once again in December, with $753.6 million worth, compared to $875.3 million in Novembeer. For 2013, bond funds had total net redemptions of $4.2 billion, compared to net sales of $19.0 billion in 2012.

Total mutual fund assets under management (AUM) finished 2013 a hair shy of the $1 trillion mark, at $999.2 billion, up by about 1.3% in December. For the year, AUM was up by $149.4 billion, or 17.6%.