Net sales for all mutual funds totalled $1.4 billion in April, excluding reinvested distributions, according to he latest statistics from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

“April sales were better than they were during the same month in both of the previous two years,” said Tom Hockin, IFIC’s president and CEO. Net sales were 54.6% higher than April last year. Hockin added: “We are pleased that sales have remained solid despite recent volatile equity markets and we remain optimistic for the balance of the year.”

Only about half of net sales, $707 million worth, were in long-term funds. Investors continue to put money into short-term funds as equity markets remain volatile. Industry assets have slumped to $415.9 billion at the end of April, but this is up about 3% from March.

Foreign equities continue to perform well, with more than $290 million in net sales pouring into foreign common shares. Along with the $166 million in net sales for U.S. equity funds, more than half the month’s long-term sales went to foreign equities.

Bond and income funds came next, accounting for $147 million in net sales, followed by balanced funds, with $75.7 million in net sales. Dividend and income funds brought in more than $52 million, and the Canadian equity funds emerged as the worst-performing asset class still in the black, with $44.2 million in monthly net sales.

The Canadian equity class only beat the foreign bond, real estate and mortgage funds, all of which experienced small net redemptions in the month.

Investors Group remains the top firm, with $44.1 billion in assets. There were no major position changes among the top 20 firms, apart from Altamira creeping ahead of Dynamic into 17th place in the industry. Firms that enjoyed strong asset gains include Fidelity, AIC, Clarington and Synergy. PH&N was the big loser, with its assets dropping 9%.

IFIC also reported the total number of member unitholder accounts at 52.5 million, a 7.0% increase over one year ago. Total assets under management increased in April to $415.9 billion, up 3.1% from $403.3 billion in March. Assets are up 1.7% from last April’s figure of $409 billion.