10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 29 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.

• Invest with ii: Open a Stocks & Shares ISA | ISA Investment Ideas | Transfer a Stocks & Shares ISA

Top 10 shares in ISAs

Wishbone Gold (LSE:WSBN) makes it a second week heading this list of most-bought stocks in ISAs on the ii platform. Shares in the Australia-focused miner ended a week shortened by Monday’s bank holiday roughly where they started. However, there was plenty of excitement for those willing to trade the shares, or for existing shareholders to either exit at higher levels or top up holdings on the dips.

Closing the previous week at 1.44p, Wishbone peaked at 2.0p on Tuesday, a 38% gain, before hitting a low of 1.20p the following day. The decline coincided with an announcement that the company had raised £1.5 million from a placing at 1.25p a share.

“The proceeds of this fundraise will provide a significant boost to the company’s cash reserves and provide additional working capital to significantly expand the company’s drilling efforts at its key 100% owned Red Setter Gold Dome target near the Telfer gold mine,” said chair Richard Poulden.

• Gold investing: what, why and how to invest
• Insider: at least one of these four stocks is ‘simply too cheap’

And there’s been interest in another small gold company, this time £8 million Cloudbreak Discovery (LSE:CDL), which debuts in this list at number seven.

Cloudbreak announced last week the expansion of its Darlot West gold project in Western Australia by five times the initial land package, increasing its exposure to a total of 60.6km2. Managing director Tom Evans cited “excellent” surface gold grades approaching an ounce of gold per tonne. The nearby Darlot gold mine has so far produced 2.8 million ounces of gold.

A day later the company confirmed that it had raised £600,000 at 0.475p per share, a 10% discount to the closing price the day before, from one existing and two new strategic institutional investors. During the week, Cloudbreak shares rallied to 0.95p from just 0.15p the week before.

A third small-cap gold miner makes this week’s top 10, with Oriole Resources (LSE:ORR) another first-timer at number nine. The AIM-listed company reported “significant” results from the maiden drilling programme at its 90%-owned Mbe orogenic gold project in Cameroon.

Chief executive Martin Rosser said the results were significant because they “confirm the potential for very high grades within the deposit…they extend the known gold system boundaries…and the potential scale of Mbe is currently uncapped and is therefore hugely exciting.”

Oriole shares more than tripled from 0.20p to 0.64p.

• Shares for the future: why this company is still a top two stock
• Huge month for dividends as Lloyds Bank, BP, Shell, L&G pay out

Elsewhere, Empire Metals Ltd (LSE:EEE) and Alien Metals Ltd (LSE:UFO) hovered just outside the top 10 (at 11 and 13 respectively) in a week where, with the gold price riding high, mining companies demonstrated once again their newfound popularity among retail investors.

There are two further new entries this time, although neither is a stranger to the top 10. Heavyweight banks Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) and NatWest Group (LSE:NWG) are among the week’s most-bought ISA stocks after rumours of a hefty tax on sector profits sent shares tumbling. Bargain hunters clearly think the negativity is overdone, and that Chancellor Rachel Reeves will not use the Autumn Budget to slap a new levy on the banks.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

There was little change to our top 10 most-bought funds and investment trusts in ISAs over the past week, with the top four spots remaining the same.

Royal London Short Term Money Market retained the top spot. It offers a cash-like return through investing in very low-risk bonds with short lifespans, typically just a couple of months. Returns, although not guaranteed, are typically in line with the Bank of England base rate. The fund, which holds over £9 billion in assets, has a current yield of 4.3%.

In second place is Artemis Global Income, which has produced strong returns over multiple time periods despite having a notable underweight to US shares, with just over a quarter of the fund invested in the world’s biggest economy. The MSCI World Index, a benchmark for global equity markets, holds just over 70% in the US.

Also unchanged in third and fourth place are global tracker Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity and renewable energy infrastructure investor Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW).

• Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: August 2025
• Watch our video: Polar Capital Technology: best and worst AI stocks
• Watch our video: Polar Capital Technology: AI means we’ll outperform the index

Lower down the table, City of London Ord (LSE:CTY) is a new entry in sixth place. The UK equity income investment trust mainly invests in FTSE 100 firms that demonstrate good prospects for growing their profits and dividends. It has been managed by veteran fund manager Job Curtis since 1991. This “Steady Eddie” is a reliable dividend payer, having increased payouts each year since 1966.  

Elsewhere in the table, there were only small movements. Advancing one place to fifth is global tracker HSBC FTSE All-World Index, while tech tracker L&G Global Technology Index fell two places to seventh. Completing the table, from eighth to 10th place, are global tracker Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index, tech specialist Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) and global growth investor Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT).

Vanguard LifeStrategy 100% Equity, positioned in 10th place last week, drops off the list.

Funds and trusts section written by ii’s Kyle Caldwell.