TORONTO - Net assets under management by the Canadian mutual funds industry rose 2.4 per cent month over month to $891.8 billion in February, the Investment Funds Institute of Canada reported Friday.

IFIC says net sales last month totalled $7.63 billion, a figure that included net sales of long-term funds of $8.2 billion and net redemptions of money market funds of $567.8 million.

Nets sales in the first two months of the year total $13 billion, including $14.5 billion of long-terms funds offset by $1.45 billion of money market net redemptions.

Balanced funds had net sales in February of $7.13 billion compared with net sales of $4.1 billion in January. Year-to-date net sales for balanced funds totalled $11.2 billion compared with net sales of $7.43 billion for the same period last year.

Bond funds' net sales in February totalled $249.1 million compared with net sales of $1.30 billion last month. Year to date, net sales for bond funds totalled $1.55 billion compared with net sales of $5.25 billion for the same period last year.

Equity funds’ net sales in February 2013 totalled $558.4 million, up from $272.5 million in January. Year-to-date net sales for equity funds totalled $830.9 million compared with net redemptions of $2.05 billion for the same period last year.

Since February 2012, total mutual fund assets have increased by $81.4 billion, or 10 per cent, IFIC said.