10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 6 December 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

In a week when bitcoin traded above $100,000 for the first time, it was no surprise to see MicroStrategy Inc Class A (NASDAQ:MSTR) claiming top spot for a fourth consecutive week.

As the public company with the biggest stockpile of bitcoin, Microstrategy’s share price is closely correlated with movements in the cryptocurrency’s value.

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The recent surge in bitcoin’s price – up from under $53,00 in September to $103,647 this month - is due in no small part to Donald Trump’s election win and promise to appoint pro-crypto officials to key positions. Among them is Paul Atkins, who Trump wants as commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Microstrategy’s share price has been as volatile as bitcoin, but there have been significant gains for those with the nerve to own them. They traded as low as $114 in September before reaching a peak of $543 late last month. However, they remain volatile, last week trading between $363 and $445.

After missing out the previous week, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) is back in the top 10. Shares in the electric car giant have staged an incredible recovery ever since the US election to trade near a record high. Tesla’s Elon Musk will be part of Trump’s new administration, which could work in his company’s favour.

It was the same for BP (LSE:BP.) and Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.), both taking a one-week break from this list. But they’re back now, with investors still interested in snapping up BP near multi-year lows. There’s currently talk that BP will sell its stake in its US natural gas pipeline network for as much as $3 billion. It’ll help reduce the oil major’s debt pile.

There’s no fresh news on Rolls, but clearly the momentum that’s taken shares from less than 300p at the start of 2024 to almost 600p currently, is still there. Sentiment has perhaps been helped by a research note from Bank of America, backing Rolls to reach 850p in due course. City writer Graeme Evans covered the note here.

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Finally, Oracle Power (LSE:ORCP), which appeared here for the first time a week ago, jumped another two places to second in the list of most-bought ISA stocks.

Oracle’s penny shares soared a few weeks ago but spent the past few days drifting back from their highs. An update on its Northern Zone gold project in Western Australia showed the mineralisation envelope and footprint continues to grow.

“The drilling which has been targeting higher grade shallow gold mineralisation, may lead to these areas being the future focus of reverse circulation and diamond drilling below the higher-grade oxide gold mineralisation to expedite the Project towards a maiden Mineral Resource Estimate,” said Oracle CEO Naheed Memon.

A mining lease application and mineralisation report compliance document are expected to be submitted to the Department of Mines Energy Industry Regulation and Safety early this week.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Technology funds rose in value and popularity last week. Rising one place to take the top spot was the £3.6 billion L&G Global Technology Index I Acc (B0CNH16). It has risen 37% so far in 2024, driven higher by very large positions in Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft. It costs 0.32% and it was of the best performing funds of the past decade.

Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) was also popular, rising two places to third. The £15 billion trust from Baillie Gifford rose about 2% last week and is up 24% so far in 2024. It owns around 90 private and public companies that are innovating in their fields, from online payments and ecommerce, to rockets and electric vehicles.

SMT Manager Lawrence Burns recently recorded two video interviews with ii, where he defended the trust’s performance record and revealed which companies he thinks could breach a $1 trillion market cap.

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Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity A Acc (B4PQW15) fell from first to second place, while Vanguard U.S. Eq Idx £ Acc (B5B71Q7) and Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc (B8XYYQ8) fund also dropped one place each, taking them to fourth and fifth most bought respectively.

The other two fallers were Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW), which fell two places to eighth, and Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity A Acc (B41XG30) dropped off the list.

JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI) rose two places to sixth and 3i Group Ord (LSE:III) was a new entry in tenth.

Global trackers Fidelity Index World P Acc (BJS8SJ3) and HSBC FTSE All-World Index C Acc (BMJJJF9) held on to seventh and ninth places. They cost 0.12% and 0.13% respectively and have returned about 13% annualised over the past five years.

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