Canadians sold up to C$981 mln in funds in Dec-IFIC

TORONTO, Jan 5 (Reuters) - Canadians may have sold as much as C$981 million ($824 million) in mutual fund holdings to deal with capital-loss planning in December, according to preliminary estimates released on Monday by an industry group.

Net redemptions for the industry are estimated to be between C$481 million and C$981 million in December, according to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada.

"Investors who sold units earlier in the year when equity markets were at their peak were offsetting some of those gains and reducing their tax burdens by realizing capital losses in December," said Pat Dunwoody, vice-president of member services and communications with IFIC.

IFIC also said that overall net assets managed by the industry likely rose 0.37 percent in December from the previous month, to between C$504.6 billion and C$509.6 billion.

($1=$1.19 Canadian) (Reporting by Ka Yan Ng; editing by Rob Wilson)