10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 25 October 2024

We look at the investments ii customers have been buying within their ISAs during the previous week. The data includes only real-time trades, not regular investing instructions, and combines the use of both existing funds and new money.

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Top 10 shares in ISAs

There’s a change at the top of the table of most-bought stocks in ISAs on the ii platform this week.

Trading at a five-year high following well-received third-quarter results midweek, Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) shares tumbled 7% Friday. The sell-off was triggered by a Court of Appeal ruling that motor finance brokers must fully inform customers about commissions when taking out car loans. There’s now the risk of a big compensation scheme for customers who complained about overcharging on commission when buying a car.

Shares in major motor finance provider Lloyds, which had traded above 63p post results, slumped to below 58p, unwinding all the gains of the past three weeks. Investors who had piled in after the results were joined by bargain hunters picking up what they believe to be cheap stock ahead of the weekend. 

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Analysts at Deutsche Bank had upgraded their price target for Lloyds from 64p to 83p.

Lloyds snatched first place in the table from BP (LSE:BP.), which dropped eight places to their lowest since late July. That coincided with a drop in oil prices to levels last seen at the start of the month. 

Asset manager abrdn (LSE:ABDN) made it into the top 10 most-bought for the first time on bargain hunting following a bigger-than-expected outflow of funds in the third quarter. There were two more new entries. M&G Ordinary Shares (LSE:MNG) was back in the top 10, up from 11th place the previous week. Shares have traded either side of 200p for the past four years and are near that level now. A yield of 10% remains a big draw.

And finally, there was plenty of buying interest in Helix Exploration (LSE:HEX), the company searching for helium in Montana, North America.

Helix shares spiked 27% to 28p over the week to their highest since July. They first jumped on Monday following news of the successful re-entry and subsequent deepening of the Clink #1 well at the Ingomar Dome project. Chief executive Bo Sears called it a “significant milestone for the company”. 

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Then on Thursday, the firm announced it was moving on to the testing phase of the operation. “If initial results of a perforation are positive the company will report gas composition to the market and perform an extended well test on the interval before moving on to the next horizon,” it said.

Helix raised £7.5 million when it floated on AIM in April IPO at 10p a share.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity reclaimed its position at the top of the charts last week, rising two places. 

The popular “fund of funds” is a member of ii’s Super 60 list of recommended strategies. It owns a range of Vanguard’s own index funds to give investors cheap and efficient access to global stocks and bonds. The fund costs 0.22% and yields nearly 2%.  

It knocked L&G Global Technology Index off the top spot, which fell to fourth place. This fund has been a strong performer this year, returning 29%. It has been boosted by large positions in NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT).

Other fallers last week were Jupiter India, Fidelity Index World and HSBC FTSE All-World Index C Acc. They all dropped by one place, but continue to be popular options for investors looking to own Indian shares and track global markets.  

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The biggest riser was Vanguard US Equity Index, up five places to fifth. For 0.1% in annual fees, you’re getting access to more than 3,500 American firms. Returns have trailed the more concentrated S&P 500 tracker funds over the past decade due to the strong returns from America’s largest stocks.   

There were two new entries: Alliance Witan Ord (LSE:ALW) and City of London Ord (LSE:CTY). These investment trusts are consistently popular, with ALW giving investors access to a diversified basket of global shares, and CTY delivering a consistent income from UK shares.   

Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) held on to second place, while Royal London Short Term Money Market rose from fourth to third place.  

Funds and trusts section written by ii’s Sam Benstead.