Mutual fund sales totaled $491 million in June, the ninth consecutive month the industry has had net sales, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

But IFIC also reports that fewer people are investing these days. The total number of member unitholder accounts stood at 51.2 million, a 0.9% decrease from the year before. As well, nearly 50 funds have dropped off the list since June 2003.

Figures for June, typically a weaker month for mutual sales, were 7.9% lower than the $533 million registered in May, but a far cry from a year ago when the industry reported redemptions of $577 million. June’s final figure compares with an estimate 10 days ago of net sales of $350 million.

Net sales for long-term funds were $854 million, a $600-million increase from the previous month and the highest for the month of June since 2000,IFIC said. Short-term funds, however, experienced redemptions of $363 million last month.

Net sales for all funds including re-invested distributions was $1.2-billion in June, up 42% over May.

Dividend and income funds pulled in nearly $405 million while bond and income funds pulled in more than $393 million. Including reinvested distributions, bond funds came out on top with net sales of more than $668 million. Dividend and income funds trailed slightly with nearly $532 in net sales.

Industry assets rose for the third straight month and the eighth time in the past nine months to $476.1 billion, IFIC said.

IGM Financial, with its combined holdings from Investors Group, Mackenzie and Counsel Wealth Management. topped the list with $79.2 billion in assets under management, followed by RBC Asset Management Inc. ($44.4 billion), CIBC Asset Management ($40.9 billion), AIM Funds Management ($40.8 billion) and C.I. Mutual Funds Inc. ($40.6 billion).

Brandes Investment Partners showed the biggest gains with assets up 8.8% from the May, and up nearly 295% from the year before. Brandes had more than $2.6 billion in assets.

AIC Ltd. experienced the biggest drop, with assets falling 2.9% over May to slightly more than $11.9 billion.