10 most-bought FTSE 100 stocks in September 2018
10th October 2018 11:28
by Richard Hunter from interactive investor
There are five new entries to this month's list. Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, identifies an interesting trend.
The top three most-bought shares through interactive investor in September remained the same, although they traded places to finish in the amended order of Vodafone, Lloyds Banking and Glencore.
Unusually, half of the list dropped out entirely - Aviva, Rio Tinto, BT, Shell and Legal & General all failed to make the cut. Their replacements – SSE, National Grid, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC and International Consolidated Airlines Group – show an element of defensiveness, although generally remaining high-yielding stocks.
Source: TradingView (one-hour chart) Past performance is not a guide to future performance
The FTSE 100 had a better month in September, rising 1% following August's poor showing. This was not enough to stem the year's decline, however, and at the time of writing the UK's premier index stands down 4.1%. Escalating trade tensions between the US and China diluted market gains somewhat, whilst as the Brexit discussions (hopefully) near a conclusion, the uncertainty hitherto has not been helpful for sentiment.
The contrarian nature of certain interactive investor customers came in the form of International Consolidated Airlines, which came in at number 10. A firmer oil price in September proved a real headwind for airline stocks, and despite a 5% decline in the IAG share price over the month, customers piled in on recovery hopes.
There were also claims from the International Air Transport Association that "The UK government's papers on the air transport implications of a 'no deal' departure from the EU, clearly exposes the extreme seriousness of what is at stake and underscores the huge amount of work that would be required to maintain vital air links."
Source: TradingView Past performance is not a guide to future performance
Overall, however, the overarching investment theme remains the same. Buying blue-chip companies on the dips in the hope of future capital growth, while being paid to wait in the form of heightened dividend income, is noteworthy.
Indeed, excluding Barclays, the average yield of the other nine stocks is 5.7%, which comfortably exceeds the average of the FTSE 100 as a whole, currently standing at a touch over 4%.
Most bought FTSE 100 stocks by interactive investor's customers in September 2018
| Rank | Company | Previous rank* | Dividend yield (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vodafone | 3 | 8.2 |
| 2 | Lloyds Banking | 1 | 5.3 |
| 3 | Glencore | 2 | 4.5 |
| 4 | Barclays | 5 | 2.6 |
| 5 | SSE | New entry | 8.5 |
| 6 | BP | 4 | 5.3 |
| 7 | National Grid | New entry | 5.9 |
| 8 | GlaxoSmithKline | New entry | 5 |
| 9 | HSBC Holdings | New entry | 4.6 |
| 10 | International Consolidated Airlines | New entry | 3.8 |
*August 2018
Source: interactive investor, 5 October
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Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.