10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 15 August 2025

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

Results from Aviva (LSE:AV.) saw the life assurer make a new entry at number six during the week.

First-half operating profit up 22% to £1.068 billion comfortably beating City forecasts of around £972 million. An interim dividend of 13.1p per share rose 10% from a year ago and is payable to eligible shareholders on 16 October.

Metrics for the now acquired Direct Line business exceeded analyst hopes with accompanying group-wide outlook comments proving upbeat. The FTSE 100 company continues to target an annual operating profit of £2 billion by next year. An update in relation to the Direct Line business is expected on 13 November.

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Similarly, results from housebuilder Persimmon (LSE:PSN) attracted buyers and it entered the table at number seven. First-half revenues up 14% from a year ago to £1.5 billion surpassed City forecasts of £1.37 billion, propelling adjusted pre-tax profit up 11% to £164.9 million. 

Persimmon continues to target new-home builds of between 11,000 and 11,500 homes for 2025 and 12,000 for 2026. That’s potentially up from 2024’s 10,664 completed homes. An interim dividend of 20p per share remained unchanged from a year ago and is payable to eligible shareholder on 7 November. The shares currently sit on an estimated future dividend yield of around 5.7%. Broker UBS reiterated its “buy” rating after the results.

Chip maker and artificial intelligence play NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) re-entered the popular ISA buys’ list over this latest week. Authorities in China appeared to discourage Chinese firms from buying Nvidia’s popular H20 chip during the week. Shares for the ‘Magnificent Seven’ company fell 1.2% over the week, underperforming a 0.8% rise for the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite index.

The US and China remain in high-profile trade discussions following proposed Trump tariffs, with Nvidia products potentially becoming something of a bargaining position between the two major economies. Nvidia results are scheduled to be announced after US markets close on Wednesday 27 August.

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Mining mammoth Rio Tinto Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO) was also a new entry. Shares for the FTSE 100 company fell 1.3% over the week, hindered by the beginning of trading without the right to its interim dividend payment.

Previously announced first-half results saw management flagging improving operational performance helped by an increasingly diversified portfolio. First-half adjusted profits to late June fell 5% to $11.5 billion (£8.5 billion) with a near one-quarter fall in profitability for iron ore countered by 50% or more gains for copper and aluminium due to increased production. Rio is scheduled to offer an update on third-quarter production as of 16 October.

The other new entry in eighth place was BitMine Immersion Technologies, a Las Vegas-headquartered crypto mining and services company. In June, it was reported that the company had launched its ethereum treasury strategy. “We continue to believe ethereum is one of the biggest macro trades over the next 10 to 15 years,” said Tom Lee, chair of BitMine, this week.

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Finally, Metals One (LSE:MET1) proved a big mover, climbing five places to fourth position. The AIM-listed company confirmed a binding agreement to expand its footprint in the Uravan mineral belt, an area well known for significant uranium and vanadium deposits. Shares for Metal One fell almost 3% over the week although remain up by more than a fifth year-to-date.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) overtook Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) last week in the popularity rankings, entering in eighth place compared to SMT’s ninth.

Both trusts give investors exposure to fast-growing businesses from around the world, but have a number of key differences.

Polar Capital Technology invests only in listed shares, with the key focus being tech stocks. It is happy to own more mature tech firms such as Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Alphabet Inc Class A (NASDAQ:GOOGL), and is constructed in a “benchmark-aware” manner, so will normally not diverge too much in performance from its global technology index.

On the other hand, Scottish Mortgage invests across listed and unlisted businesses, which means it can hold unquoted firms such as Stripe and SpaceX. It also buys “innovative” companies rather than exclusively tech shares, and so has some stakes in biotech and luxury goods firms, like Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) and Ferrari NV (MTA:RACE).

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Unchanged at the top were Royal London Short Term Money Market and L&G Global Technology Index, while Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity and Artemis Global Income rose one place each to land in third and fourth respectively.

Artemis Global Income has captured the attention of ii customers this year. It has a yield of 2.3% and has returned 28.7% so far in 2025, which is well ahead of the 7.2% gain for the MSCI All Country World index.

Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity and Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) fell down the rankings, while the final risers were Renewables Infrastructure Group (LSE:TRIG) and HSBC FTSE All-World Index.

Global tracker funds Fidelity Index World and Vanguard Global All Cap Index dropped off the list.