The divergence highlights how market weakness outweighed investor contributions during the month.
“Despite continued positive net sales in March, both mutual fund and ETF assets declined as market weakness more than offset new investor inflows,” SIMA’s report states.
Balanced funds once again played a central role in mutual fund sales, bringing in $634 million during March. Specialty funds led all categories with $1.5 billion in net sales, while bond funds added $140 million. Equity funds were the only segment to post outflows, with redemptions of $1.3 billion.
Money market funds also contributed to overall inflows, generating $684 million in net sales.
ETF demand remained particularly strong, with March marking the second highest monthly ETF net sales on record.