The Canadian mutual fund industry got off to a weak start in 2016 as net redemptions for mutual funds totalled $80 million in January, according to figures released on Friday by Toronto-based Investment Funds Institute of Canada.
This compares to net sales of $1.27 billion in December 2015 and $5.34 billion in January 2015.
Mutual fund industry assets under management (AUM) totalled $1.21 trillion in January, a month over month decrease of 1.9%, which is almost completely (99.6%) attributable to recent market volatility.
Long-term funds saw net redemptions of $533 million in January and net sales of $52.3 billion over the last 12 months.
Money market fund net sales were $453 million in January and $212 million over the last 12 months.
Balanced funds led the asset classes in January with net sales with a total of $471 million, but it was a steep drop from the net sales of $1.76 billion in December. Net sales for balanced funds over the last 12 months totalled $43.2 billion.
Bond funds saw net sales of $277 million in January compared to net redemptions of $684 million in December. Net sales for bond funds hit $2.89 billion over the last 12 months.
Equity funds’ net redemptions totalled $1.33 billion in January compared to net redemptions of $38.1 million in December. Net sales over the last year were $3.42 billion.
Monthly sales data are compiled from IFIC and other sources. Aggregate totals are provided by Investor Economics Inc.