10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 5 July 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

There’s no place for Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) in the top 10 most-bought stocks on the interactive investor platform this time, despite the shares hitting their highest level in over four years following Friday’s UK general election result. The price broke above 58p, ending the session with a 1.7% gain at 58.26p. Often regarded as a bellwether for the domestic economy, the City is comfortable with this stable Labour government’s combination of growth and perceived fiscal prudence.

Keeping the retail bank out of the leading pack are two AIM minnows - £70 million Helium One Global Ltd Ordinary Shares (LSE:HE1) and £7 million Bluejay Mining (LSE:JAY).

The former is a stock which has featured in the top 10 list plenty of times since February’s £4.7 million fundraising. Then, the company, which last topped this table mid-February, said the money would allow it to continue its helium drilling programme in Tanzania.

After the euphoria sent shares from 0.2p to a high of 3.7p in a fortnight, shares settled down and traded below 1p from mid-June. However, there’s fresh excitement after an operational update on 1 July reported that a well test would happen this month. It will take 4-6 weeks to complete.

"As we fast approach the next operational phase, we are on track to commence the crucial EWT [extended well test] operations at Itumbula West-1 in July,” said chief executive Lorna Blaisse.

“This is a very exciting time for the company as the test will enable us to determine commercial flow rates, reservoir performance and helium concentrations over a longer period of time. The results of this EWT will enable us to better determine resource estimates and fully evaluate the potential of this new fault-fracture helium play we have at Itumbula.”

Helium One shares rallied from 0.725p the previous week to 0.867p on 1 July, peaking at 1.186p by Friday 5th. They spiked to 1.5p today on news that the CEO will be presenting at a webinar on Wednesday.

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BlueJay Mining also generated speculative interest on the first day of the month after a review of assets uncovered the “previously unrecognized presence of high concentrations of helium and hydrogen gases” at its wholly owned Outokumpu project in Finland.

"The preliminary indications of hydrogen and helium within the Outokumpu Belt are highly encouraging and present a transformative, organic low-cost opportunity for Bluejay shareholders,” said managing director Eric Sondergaard.

There’s also the possibility of EU investment to fast-track development of any potential gas deposits, although Sondergaard cautioned that nothing has been confirmed “in terms of the potential prospective gas volumes, level of funding available, or timeline."

Bluejay shares leapt 140% from 0.3p at the end of the previous week to 0.728p on Monday 1st, then to 0.74p and a six-month high a day later. They have since settled back to 0.45p.

On the same day, we heard that non-executive director Roderick McIllree had just bought 6 million Bluejay shares at 0.348p, taking his stake to 97.5 million shares, or 6.47% of the company.

Over the pond and at the opposite end of the scale, $800 billion Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is back in the top 10 most-bought stocks on the ii platform for the first time in two months.

Shares are at prices not seen since the end of 2023 after the electric vehicle giant reported second-quarter deliveries of 443,956 units. That’s up 14% on the previous quarter and better than market consensus at 437,812.

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Investors were happy to chase the shares higher, which is reported to have triggered short covering by hedge funds who’d been betting heavily against the shares in recent months.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley said: “While this is one of the first and only positive auto surprises of the year for Tesla, we still believe matching last year’s delivery number would be difficult to achieve. Tesla would have to grow 2H deliveries by around 6% YoY to hold volume flat.”

However, they say record high stationary energy storage numbers were the ‘show stealer’ from the update. It said the business is“uniquely positioned to benefit from investment in the US electric grid accelerated by the AI boom.” Morgan Stanley, which thinks Tesla Energy is worth $130 billion, or $36 per Tesla share, maintains its price target for Tesla of $310.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

A technology tracker from Legal & General kept its place as the most bought collective in ISAs last week, marking four weeks at the top as investors continue to back the potential of artificial intelligence. 

L&G Global Technology Index I Acc (B0CNH16) is up 31% this year and up 205% over five years, making it one of the top-performing funds available to UK investors. However, it has become very concentrated due to the success of mega-cap tech shares, and now has around 15% each in Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL), Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA). 

The second most popular fund in ISAs last week was Jupiter India I Acc (B4TZHH9), which has continued its strong run of form this year, returning 23% in a little over six months. 

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The biggest riser was HSBC FTSE All-World Index C Acc (BMJJJF9), which owns around 3,500 companies from around the world, including emerging markets, for just 0.12% in annual fees. It was the third most popular fund, having been ranked 15th the week before. Another new entry was Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity A Acc (B41XG30), in tenth. 

Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) was unchanged in fourth, while JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI) and Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc (B8XYYQ8) both rose to fifth and sixth respectively. 

Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity A Acc (B4PQW15), Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) and Alliance Trust Ord (LSE:ATST) all dropped in popularity but kept their place in the top-10 list.  Vanguard U.S. Eq Idx £ Acc (B5B71Q7) and NextEnergy Solar Ord (LSE:NESF) dropped off. 

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