This followed a $1.55-billion net outflow in August, when
sentiment was jolted by credit-market anxiety provoked by the U.S. subprime
mortgage meltdown. Last month's $993.8-million in sales compared with
$930.5-million in September, 2006.
“With better than expected capital market returns for
September, assets under management grew by $5.5-billion to finish the month at
$701.4-billion,” Pat Dunwoody, vice-president of the Investment Funds Institute
of Canada, said in releasing the numbers Monday.
This asset total — after three months of decline — was up by
15 per cent from September, 2006.
So far this year, the industry's net sales excluding
reinvested distributions total $27.8-billion, more than double the $13-billion
recorded in the first nine months of last year.
Fund-of-fund packages generated the bulk of last month's
sales, with almost $890-million invested through these managed vehicles, while
stand-alone fund sales totalled about $105-million.
Within the fund categories, net redemptions continued last
month in Canadian stock funds, which shed $333.9-million. But global and
international equity funds booked $160.8-million in net sales.
Balanced funds — conservative packages of stocks and bonds —
continued pulling in money, attracting $878-million in September after posting
net sales of $398.9-million during the August turmoil.
Bond funds had $125.5-million in September redemptions,
easing from a $368.1-million outflow the previous month.
And money market funds, which suffered $915.5 million in August redemptions, produced September net sales of $328 million.
Consensus Watch’s Take: The Fed bailout in
September and the subsequent resumption of Goldilocks 3.0 appears to have given
the retail investors the green light to jump back in the market. True there
have been short-term buying opportunities and the Sage Investor has taken
advantage it. The reality is that if the retail investor is feeling pretty good
about the stock market and makes strong moves into the market, it is usually an
indicator that we’re approaching some choppy waters. This week’s confessions by
the major US banks, is perhaps a signal of some more hand ringing.
AKR