While their shares fell over 21%, 15% and 22% respectively, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA), Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.) and Polymetal International PLC (LSE:POLY) were among the most popular shares for UK private investors to buy over the past month.
Airline engine maker Rolls was the most bought share on the Interactive Investors (ii) platform and third on the AJ Bell platform, respectively the second and third largest UK investment platforms, while Russia-focused gold miner Polymteal was third on ii and ninth on AJ Bell's YouInvest and Tesla was sixth and seventh.
Along with British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE:IAG), Rolls has been a perennial favourite for bargain hunters during the pandemic, but has been keen to talk up its nuclear game amid the energy crisis.
Sales data also showed that plenty of investors were also exiting Polymetal, Rolls and Tesla, as there needs to be a seller for each buyer.
Also, ii noted that the popularity of other Russia-linked companies such as Evraz PLC (LSE:EVR) and Petropavlovsk PLC (LSE:POG), which had been on the leaderboards the previous month with investors keen to lean into market volatility, faded away in April.
Going against the grain, Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC), top of the AJ Bell client purchases and third for ii, saw its shares up almost 3% despite postponing its share buyback, as investors perceive it to be a potential sector winner amid the current volatile macro and market conditions.
Fellow UK lender Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) was as popular among retail investors as ever, but had a flat month in terms of share performance.
Volatility within China’s equity markets, sparked by concerns about Beijing’s zero-tolerance covid approach and what that could mean for the economy, has sparked renewed interest in China-sensitive stocks on the FTSE 100 such as Rio Tinto and Glencore, said ii.
Most bought shares on Interactive Investor for April
- Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.)
- Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY)
- Polymetal International PLC (LSE:POLY)
- Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC)
- Legal & General PLC
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)
- Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN)
- Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO)
- Boohoo Group PLC (AIM:BOO)
- Aviva PLC (LSE:AV.)
AJ Bell most-bought in April
- Barclays PLC (LSE:BARC) (7.9% of all buys)
- GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LSE:GSK) (7.8%)
- Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.) (5.8%)
- Rio Tinto PLC (LSE:RIO) (5.2%)
- Legal & General Group PLC (LSE:LGEN) (4.4%)
- Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) (4.2%)
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) (4.0%)
- Persimmon PLC (LSE:PSN) (3.5%)
- Polymetal International PLC (LSE:POLY) (3.4%)
- Imperial Brands PLC (LSE:IMB) (2.8%)
AJ Bell most sold shares in April
- Polymetal International PLC (LSE:POLY) (5.9%)
- GlaxoSmithKline PLC (LSE:GSK) (5.7%)
- Shell PLC (LSE:SHEL, NYSE:SHEL) (5.4%)
- BP PLC (LSE:BP.) (4.5%)
- Lloyds Banking Group PLC (LSE:LLOY) (4.1%)
- Rolls-Royce Holdings PLC (LSE:RR.) (3.6%)
- International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE:IAG) SA (3.4%)
- Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) (3.0%)
- easyJet PLC (2.6%)
- Glencore PLC (LSE:GLEN) (2.5%)
AJ Bell data up until 4 May. Percentages of all purchase deals placed that month per category.
Among investment trusts, it's no surprise that Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust PLC (LSE:SMT) was again top of both lists.
Gore Street Energy Storage Fund PLC (LSE:GSF) was second on the list for AJ Bell and in the top 10 for ii, following its £75mln fundraising the month before, which it said was to enable it to take advantage of the growing opportunities in the industrial battery sector.
As in recent months, the inclusion of Capital Gearing Trust PLC (LSE:CGT), Personal Assets Trust (LSE:PNL), and Ruffer Investment Company Ltd (LSE:RICA) were another sign that investors are more bearish than bullish at the moment.
The trio are ‘wealth preservation’ investment trusts, prioritising protecting investor capital.
“Investors are seeing the glass half-empty at the moment, and who can blame them given the various headwinds that threaten to destabilise markets," said Kyle Caldwell, collectives specialist at ii, on the growing number of passive funds in the most-bought funds list.
“Reasons to be bearish include Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, inflation at its highest level in decades, and interest rates moving higher. In addition, the bond market has recently been signalling that a recession is becoming more likely.
“Greater caution is reflected by the fact that our top 10 most-bought funds now contain eight passive funds that aim to simply mirror the performance of an index (or use passive strategies in the case of the Vanguard Lifestrategy range). The two active funds are Fundsmith Equity, the most-popular fund among our customers, and Baillie Gifford Positive Change."
A year earlier he noted that just four funds in the ii top 10 were either an index fund or an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
“To me, this reflects that investors are looking to ensure their portfolios are well-diversified, and to achieve this are preferring the simplicity of passive fund. While the trade-off is that investors going down the passive route are giving up the chance of market-beating returns, there are of course no guarantees that an active fund will outperform," Caldwell said.
AJ Bell most-bought investment trusts
- Scottish Mortgage (16.0%)
- Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (4.5%)
- BlackRock Throgmorton Trust (3.7%)
- Scottish Investment Trust (3.4%)
- Law Debenture Corporation (LSE:LWDB) (3.3%)
- JPMorgan Emerging Markets (3.2%)
- Alliance Trust (2.9%)
- BlackRock World Mining Trust (2.6%)
- Smithson Investment Trust (2.6%)
- City of London (2.6%)
AJ Bell most-sold investment trusts
- Scottish Mortgage (15.2%)
- BlackRock World Mining Trust (5.1%)
- Smithson Investment Trust (3.5%)
- Monks (3.2%)
- Edinburgh Worldwide (3.1%)
- Allianz Technology Trust (2.7%)
- Polar Capital Technology (2.6%)
- BlackRock Throgmorton Trust (2.5%)
- Gore Street Energy Storage Fund (2.4%)
- Scottish Investment Trust (2.3%)
ii most-bought funds in April
- Fundsmith Equity
- Vanguard Lifestrategy 80% Equity
- Vangaurd Lifestrategy 100% Equity
- Vanguard Lifestrategy 60% Equity
- Vanguard U.S Equity Index
- Vanguard Ftse Global All Cap Id
- Legal & General Global Tech
- Vanguard Ftsedev World Exc UK Equity Indx
- Baille Gifford Positive Change
- Fil Inv Svcs Index World