10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 26 April 2024

With the new tax year under way, 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

Last time it was all about high-yielding UK finance stocks, with Legal & General Group (LSE:LGEN), Phoenix Group Holdings (LSE:PHNX), M&G Ordinary Shares (LSE:MNG) and Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) hogging four of the first five places in the top 10 most-bought ISA stocks.

Well, L&G managed to hang on to its position as leader of the pack, a position it has held for three of the past four weeks. Lloyds hung around near the top too, despite an initial negative reaction to first-quarter results as UK stocks more broadly found favour with investors, the FTSE 100 hitting a record high above 8,100.

But the other two dividend stocks both fell six places – M&G to eighth and Phoenix to ninth.

Story of the week was US tech, with three of the world’s biggest technology companies breaking into our most-bought table.

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After a month out of the top 10, and having been 13th most bought the week before, AI chip play NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) came in third last week. Ten days ago, it’s shares could be bought for about $760, but by last Friday were selling for as much as $883, an increase of 16%.

And investors looking for cheap tech stocks jumped on Meta Platforms Inc Class A (NASDAQ:META) when the Facebook owner fell 15% despite reporting a big increase in first-quarter revenue. Losses came after Mark Zuckerberg issued new guidance on capital expenditure, raising concerns about the growing cost of artificial intelligence initiatives. It was the first time in the top 10 most-bought list for Meta, with fans hoping this is just a blip.

Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) is propping up the table after making a first appearance since it's only other top 10 showing at the start of February. Last week’s quarterly sales and profit both beat Wall Street estimates and, while the share popped higher on the news, they’re still  6% below the recent peak at $430.82.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Three new funds entered the top 10 most-bought funds and investment trusts last week: Jupiter India (in at seventh), Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity (ninth) and Vanguard FTSE Glb All Cp Index (10th).

All have been regular fixtures in this list, going in and out of favour depending on market conditions. 

Two funds that nearly always make the list are Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) and Fundsmith Equity, which last week were in first and third place. Fundsmith was a big riser, moving up two places. The £25.5 billion fund is up 8% this year, compared with an average increase of 5% for global equity funds. 

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But the biggest riser was HSBC FTSE All-World Index, which charges 0.12% to track developed and developing market shares. It rose four places to sixth. 

Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity and Royal London Short Term Money Market were unchanged in second and eight place. 

Funds falling in popularity last week were L&G Global Technology Index and JPMorgan Global Growth & Income (LSE:JGGI), which both fell one place to fourth and fifth respectively.

Dropping off the list were Alliance Trust, Fidelity Index World and City of London.

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