Money market funds were the big sellers again, last month, according to the latest numbers from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

IFIC reports that net new sales, excluding reinvested distributions, reached just over $1 billion. This breaks down to almost $1.4 billion in net new money market sales, and about $400 million in redemptions from long-term funds. Including reinvested distributions, money market net sales reached $1.5 billion, and long-term sales totalled $345 million.

“The tragic events of Sept. 11th do no appear to have dramatically impacted Canadian mutual fund sales. In fact, mutual fund sales are up from last September’s figure and year-to-date sales are also up 9% from the same period last year,” says Tom Hockin, IFIC’s president and CEO. “We are encouraged to see that Canadians are not panicking and continue to save and place money into mutual funds despite the on-going market volatility.”

The heaviest redemptions came in the Canadian equity funds, with more than $160.6 million worth. Bond and income funds dropped $154 million in net sales. Foreign equity shares also topped $100 million in redemptions. Despite these trends, more than $82 million in positive net sales were enjoyed by U.S. equity funds. Dividend funds were the only other category with meaningful net sales, $42 million worth.

In the year-to-date, long-term fund sales are down 45% to $12 billion from $21.8 billion in the same period last year. More money has flowed into money market funds so far this year, $12.2 billion worth so far.

Total assets under management decreased in August to $385.4 billion, down 5.1% from $405.9 billion in August. Assets are down 10.9% from last September’s figure of $432.4 billion. Among the bigger players, assets fell harder at firms such as AIM Fund Management Inc., Fidelity Investments Canada, Franklin Templeton and AIC. Altamira, Acuity, Saxon, and Sentry Select all had tough months too.

The banks continue to suffer the least, as they account for the lion’s share of money market funds. Their losses are at about half the rate of the industry overall. Among the independents, PH&N, Clarington and E&P had better than average months too.