10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 20 March 2026

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

The top two in this week’s list of most-bought stocks in ISAs on the ii platform remain unchanged for the second week running. Legal & General Group (LSE:LGEN) continues to lead the way, extending its hold on first place to a third week. With L&G shares down 4% in the past week and over 12% since the Iran war began, they now yield 9.4%, easily the most generous dividend in the FTSE 100 index.

Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.) has seen a big uptick in volatility as longer-term shareholders think about profit taking, while others who missed out buying on the way up see recent losses as a buying opportunity. Rolls shares were down more than 20% from their high just before the latest Middle East conflict.

The highest of what are only two new entries this week, and after a two-week break from this list, is NatWest Group (LSE:NWG). The high street lender had a spectacular couple of years, more than tripling in value before peaking in early February. Since then, and before today’s bounce, the shares had fallen 26%, putting them on a forward dividend yield of 6.8%.

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Greatland Resources Ltd (LSE:GGP) makes this list for the first time since the end of January. The share price is 20% lower now, but most of that decline happened in the second half of last week, in line with a 10% slump in the gold price.

Events in the Middle East have had a significant impact on the price of gold, given rising inflation expectations and potentially higher interest rates. There’s also speculation that investors using gold as an insurance policy have cashed in their holdings.

An ounce of the yellow metal peaked above $5,600 at the end of January but was changing hands for less than $4,500 on Friday. On Monday it dropped as low as $4,100 before President Donald Trump’s tweet about a five-day pause on possible strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure.

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But Greatland shareholders might also have been lamenting the departure of Clive Latcham, who last week retired as a non-executive director. Latcham, who had been at Greatland since 2018, made a “significant contribution” to the company’s success.

The two stocks dropping out of this week’s top 10 are IAG, which falls to 11th place, and Diageo, which is down in 15th place.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

Investors have shown strong appetite for cash in the current febrile market conditions, with Royal London Short Term Money Market managing to make two appearances in our weekly bestseller list.

The fund, which offers returns linked to UK interest rates, remains at the top of the table, having knocked Artemis Global Income I Acc from that spot a few weeks ago.

But its distribution share class, which pays the fund’s income directly to investors rather than reinvesting it, also enters the table. This is the first time both share classes have sat in the table at once.

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The fund, like other money market products, has started to look more attractive in recent weeks. Equity markets have tumbled since the advent of conflict in the Middle East in late February, while classic defensive assets such as government bonds have also struggled.

That has highlighted the safe haven appeal of cash and money market funds. The prospect of sustained inflation also makes interest rate cuts, which would reduce the returns made by such funds, less likely in the near term.

Investors should also remember that their choice of fund share class can have a big impact on long-term performance.

Turning back to the top 10, we see some of the same trends at play. Investors still like Artemis Global Income, whose US-light, value-oriented approach has generated huge returns in the last year.

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But they also favour some very different active funds, from punchy growth play Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) to steady UK income fund City of London Ord (LSE:CTY) and Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW), the high-yielding renewables trust.

Passive funds continue to enjoy a good showing: US-heavy “global” trackers Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Idx £ Acc and HSBC FTSE All-World Index C Acc sit in the table, as do two funds from the more UK-heavy Vanguard LifeStrategy range.

Funds and trusts section written by Dave Baxter, senior fund content specialist at ii.