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National Grid, Nvidia, Lloyds and easyJet among most popular UK stocks

Published 04/06/2024, 16:01
Updated 04/06/2024, 17:41
© Reuters.  National Grid, Nvidia, Lloyds and easyJet among most popular UK stocks
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Proactive Investors - NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA), National Grid (LON:NG) and easyJet (LON:EZJ) were the most popular stocks for retail investors last month, while fund investors were looking for low-risk bonds, US tech and Indian equities.

The rights issue at National Grid caused its share price to slide, which prompted opportunistic buyers to snap up the FTSE 100 listed energy network at a discount, making it the second most bought share in May on Interactive Investor (ii), the second largest fund supermarket.

It is the sixth most bought share on the AJ Bell platform in the past month.

Similarly, after easyJet CEO Johan Lundgren announced plans to step down shares in the airline plunged 14%, the worst performer on the Footsie last month, which also prompted interest from value investors on both platforms.

Nvidia, Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:LON:RR.) and Vodafone Group PLC (LSE:LON:VOD) retained their positions in the ii top 10, with similar names on the AJ Bell most-bought list, which was topped by Lloyds, Aviva (LON:AV) and M&G.

ustomer investments data also revealed that commodities have seen a 184% leap in net inflows in the ii platform so far this year, while flows into fixed income jumped 91%.

Flows into alternatives and property investments have gone from a net outflow to a net inflow over the period, though equities remain the most popular asset class among ii customers, although inflows there are down 17% year on year.

In funds, Terry Smith's Fundsmith Equity was bumped down from second to fifth place in the ii rankings for May, overtaken by the Jupiter India fund and the Royal London Short Term Money Market fund, which offers a distribution yield of 5.2% from a low-risk area of the bond market.

In investment trusts, a trend this month was that the renewable energy infrastructure sectors attracted buyers again.

In May, the sector accounted for two of the three new entrants to our top 10 most-bought investment trust table: NextEnergy Solar Fund Ltd (LSE:LON:NESF) and Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC (LSE:GSF).

"Since interest rates started rising in late 2021 investors have been shunning the renewable energy infrastructure sector," said ii analyst Kyle Caldwell.

"Those rate rises have caused a re-pricing of valuations, which has harmed share prices. At the same time that interest rates rise, so do bond yields. As a result, income seekers now have more options and can take less risk as the safest types of bonds, UK and US government bonds, now offer yields of around 4% compared to virtually nothing when interest rates were at rock-bottom levels.

"However, it appears that some investors are now attempting to ‘buy low’ in the hope that a recovery will play out. At the same time share prices have been selling off investment trust discounts have also been widening.

"With big discounts and big yields on offer, those investors buying today could argue they are being paid to wait for a change in fortunes. In terms of potential tailwinds, interest cuts would in theory be a positive, as this would likely cause bond yields to fall."

The spotlight meanwhile dimmed on the technology sector, with Polar Capital Technology (LON:PCT) and Allianz (ETR:ALVG) Technology dropping out of the ii top 10.

ii most bought shares in May

  • Nvidia
  • National Grid
  • Easyjet
  • BP (LON:BP)
  • Glencore (LON:GLEN)
  • Vodafone
  • Lloyds Banking (LON:LLOY)
  • Rolls-Royce
  • Ocado (LON:OCDO)
  • M&G

AJ Bell most bought shares

  • Lloyds Banking 12.18%
  • Aviva 8.07%
  • M&G 5.16%
  • NVIDIA 4.97%
  • British American Tobacco (LON:BATS) 3.60%
  • National Grid 3.22%
  • Taylor Wimpey (LON:TW) 3.05%
  • BP 2.77%
  • Haleon (LON:HLN) 2.72%
  • easyJet PLC 2.7%

ii most popular investment trusts

  • Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:LON:SMT)
  • JP Morgan Global Growth
  • Greencoat UK (LON:UKWG) Wind PLC (LSE:UKW)
  • Alliance Trust (LON:ATST)
  • City Of London
  • Nextenergy Solar Fund
  • Blackrock (NYSE:BLK) World Mining
  • 3i (LON:III) Group
  • F&C Investment Trust
  • Gore Street Energy

AJB most bought investment trusts

  • Scottish Mortgage 8.85
  • F&C Investment Trust 7.89
  • BlackRock World Mining Trust 6.94
  • Finsbury Growth & Income 5.53
  • JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) Global Growth & Income 4.81
  • HgCapital Trust (LSE:LON:HGT) 3.85
  • Fidelity European Trust 3.80
  • Murray International 3.43
  • City of London 2.60
  • VinaCapital Vietnam 2.49

Read more on Proactive Investors UK

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