Canadian fund assets jump in January

Canadian mutual-fund and ETF assets started 2019 on a good note, according to the second edition of the Investment Fund Institute of Canada’s (IFIC) updated investment funds report that includes statistics for both mutual funds and ETFs.

At the end of January, mutual-fund assets amounted to some $1.47 trillion, compared to approximately $1.423 trillion at the end of 2018. This included $26.9 billion among money-market funds and $1.446 trillion in long-term funds, which consisted of:

• $759 billion in balanced funds, up from $737.1 billion in December;
• $485 billion in equity funds (up from $460 billion);
• $183.6 billion in bond funds (up from $180.2 billion); and
• $18.6 billion in specialty funds (up from $18.3 billion)

Last month’s gains in mutual-fund assets came in spite of net redemptions amounting to $53 million. Breaking the figures down reveals $480 million in net outflows for money-market funds and a $427-million net inflow for long-term funds. That included:

• $1.692 billion in net redemptions from balanced funds;
• $584 million in net inflows for equity funds;
• $1.18 million in net sales for bond funds; and
• $356 million in net inflows for specialty funds

The IFIC report also reflected an increase in assets for Canada’s ETF sector, in line with figures released earlier this month by the Canadian ETF Association (CETFA). According to the IFIC, Canadian ETF assets totaled $164.2 billion at the end of January 2019. That consisted of $1.9 billion in money-market strategies, as well as:

• $2.9 billion in balanced ETFs (up from $2.6 billion in December);
• $103.9 billion in equity ETFs (up from $97.6 billion);
• $53.1 billion in bond funds (up from $52.2 billion); and
• $2.4 billion in specialty funds (up from $2.3 billion)

The IFIC’s report also showed positive net sales across all categories of ETFs last month. While money-market strategies gathered a modest $47 million, long-term funds saw net inflows of $857 million, including:

• $136 million in net inflows for balanced funds;
• $300 million in net inflows for equity funds;
• $387 million in net inflows for bond funds; and
• $34 million in net inflows for specialty funds

Follow WP on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter