Profit Hunters Club

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THE CANADIAN PRESS
November 02, 2007

TORONTO - Canadians bought about $2.7 billion worth of mutual funds in October, a level not seen since the month of July before the late-summer liquidity crisis, preliminary figures from the Investment Funds Institute of Canada show.

IFIC said Friday it expects sales for the month to settle in somewhere between $2.4 billion to $2.9 billion, based on an early sample of from some of its members.

"Net sales estimates are strong for October at $2.7 billion bringing the industry close to levels not seen since July," said IFIC spokesperson Pat Dunwoody.

"Capital markets also performed well in October which contributed to the 1.14 per cent increase in assets under management for the month."

IFIC also estimates that net assets of the mutual fund industry at the end of October will be in the range of $706.9 to $711.9 billion, up approximately 1.14 per cent from last month's total of $701.4 billion.

In August, the industry suffered its first negative sales month in almost three years as investors pulled out $1.55 billion more from their mutual funds than they put in.

Morningstar Canada says its preliminary data shows the resource sector continued to fuel robust returns for mutual fund holders in October, along with continued growth in the world's emerging markets.
The company said 30 of its 42 indices had positive returns for the month, led by the Morningstar Precious Metals Equity Fund Index with an 8.6 per cent gain.

"We're not particularly surprised by the spectacular performance of precious metals funds in light of the price of gold climbing to its highest level since 1980," Bhavna Hinduja, a fund analyst with Morningstar Canada said.
She said the previous cut in U.S. interest rates and rising oil prices created worry on the markets, which in turned pushed investors towards gold.

The firm's second best performing fund index was Asia Pacific ex-Japan Equity, which gained 5.7 per cent for the month. The gain was despite depreciations in the currencies of China, Hong Kong and South Korea versus the Canadian dollar.

Morningstar said its Emerging Markets Equity Fund Index was the third best performer in October with a gain of 5.3 per cent.

The U.S. Equity fund index was near the bottom of the rankings with a 2.7-per-cent loss for the month, but Japanese equity funds were the worst performers due to a sagging market and a declining currency. Morningstar said its Japanese Equity Fund Index lost 5.2 per cent in October.

Source: http://finance.sympatico.msn.ca/investing/news/businessnews/article.aspx?cp-documentid=5666129