The latest investment fund stats for May have been released
Canadian mutual funds experienced a significant turnaround in May, with ETFs continue to show positive net sales and asset growth.
This follows April’s mixed fortunes for investment funds that saw a clear divide in investor choices with ETFs still selling strongly compared to net redemptions for mutual funds.
According to the latest data from the Securities and Investment Management Association (SIMA), mutual fund assets reached $2.3 trillion at the end of May, marking a $75.9 billion or 3.4% increase since April, representing the first gain in mutual fund assets after three consecutive months of decline.
Mutual fund net sales also turned positive, reaching $3.9 billion in May, a notable rebound from new redemptions of $1.5 billion in April.
Bond funds were a significant driver of these inflows, as they have been for most of the year, with May seeing more than $3 billion in net sales, while balanced funds posted $409 million in net sales, which was a narrow win but followed $2.6 billion in net redemptions in April.
However, equity funds dropped from net sales of $395 million in April to net redemptions of $211 million in May and specialty funds continued their positive trend, recording $805 million in net sales, up from $438 million in April.
Long-term funds overall saw net sales of $4 billion, compared to April net redemptions of $1.7 billion.
Meanwhile, money market funds flipped from net sales of $201 million in April to net redemptions of $205 million in May.
Canadian ETFs also demonstrated strong performance in May, with total assets reaching $573.9 billion, up by $27.6 billion or 5% since April. This rebound follows two consecutive months of decline for ETF assets.
ETF net sales were $8.8 billion in May, an increase from $7.2 billion in April and led by long-term funds which increased from $6.3 billion in April to $8.6 billion in May.
Bond ETFs saw a significant rise in sales to $3.1 billion in May, up sharply from just $75 million in April, and year-to-date, they account for 25% of total net sales. Just over one-third of all bond fund sales this year were short-term Canadian bond funds.
Equity ETFs continued to lead with $3.9 billion in net sales in May, although this was down from $4.9 billion in April. Specialty ETFs improved on April’s $737 million in net sales, with $947 million in May and balanced funds increased from $629 million in net sales in April to $694 million in May.
Although all of the major asset classes remained positive, money market ETFs was the only category to see a decrease in net sales – from $882 million in April to $136 million in May.
