Data released by the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) shows that total net sales of mutual funds declined in July.

Broken down by asset class, balanced, bond, and equity funds all reported lower net sales in July when compared to June, with total net sales for all funds down by 10.7% compared to the previous month. Total net sales were also down by 4.4% compared to the same month last year.

Balanced funds were the poorest performing category in July, with net sales of $3.10 billion; this is 22.7% less than the $4.01 billion reported last month. Year-to-date net sales for the category are still up by 5.8%, with a total of $36.7 billion.

Equity funds also posted a sharp decline from the previous month, with net sales dropping 19.5% to $131.9 million. Year-to-date, net sales for equity funds totalled $4.15 billion, which is 5.3% less compared to the same period last year.

Bond funds only dipped slightly in July, down 2.3% to $317.5 million compared to the net sales of $325.1 million recorded in June. Year-to-date, bond funds have net sales of $2.69 billion, which is 13% higher than the amount posted for the same seven months in 2014.

Only specialty funds recorded a monthly gain in July, up by 46.8% compared to June, with net sales of $442.3 million. Year-to-date, however, the category is still down 9.8% compared to the same period last year, with total net sales of $2.38 billion.