10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 30 May 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

BP (LSE:BP.)’s four-week winning streak has been ended by Rolls-Royce Holdings (LSE:RR.), which last topped this list of 10 most-bought stocks in ISAs on the ii platform in mid-March.

Aerospace engineer Rolls jetted five places higher as investors continued to back chief executive Tufan Erginbilgic to generate further gains. Last week, the share price traded as high at 871p, a far cry from the 65p you could have bought them for in September 2023.

As we reported at ii during the week, Erginbilgic’s “focus on commercial optimisation and cost efficiencies has delivered a faster-than-expected turnaround in operating profit and cash generation”. Rolls, BAE Systems (LSE:BA.) and other defence companies have also found favour recently given wider NATO discussions that will likely lead to a very significant increase in military spending among European countries. 

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Following demands made by President Trump, the alliance is expected to announce on 5 June in Brussels that it will spend 5% of GDP on defence by 2032. BAE Systems has been absent from this most-bought list for a month, but, like Rolls, made a record high last week. At 1,934p, the shares have risen almost 65% so far in 2025.

In mid-May, analysts at Morgan Stanley had a price target of 2,069p for BAE, drawing attention to its “sustainable long-term growth outlook”.

Rio Tinto Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO) hasn’t appeared in the top 10 since April but makes the list at number three, it’s joint highest position. Its popularity is perhaps down to the decline in share price to a one-month low. Ending the week at 4,402p, Rio shares are down almost 8% from 4,772p only a couple of weeks ago. Confidence hasn’t been helped by the recent announcement that chief executive Jakob Stausholm, who took the top job in January 2021, will leave Rio later this year. A hunt for his successor is under way.

Despite a more volatile 12 months than it’s been used to, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) is never out of this top 10 list for long. A recovery from sub $90 last month continues, with the stock achieving a four-month high above $143 following first-quarter results published Thursday.

Nvidia reported a 69% revenue surge from the previous year, easily beating expectations. Profit topped forecast, too. After rallying in after-hours trade following the figures, investors began to reflect on tariffs which could cost a further $8 billion in revenue during the second quarter. Nvidia says restrictions on chip sales to China mean the country’s $50 billion market for AI chips is effectively closed to US companies.

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Finally, The Smarter Web Company (AQUIS:SWC) has only been listed on the stock market for five weeks but has already attracted plenty of attention. Raising another £1 million-plus in April from a fundraising including an offer to retail investors at 2.5p a share, the price peaked at 110p last Wednesday for an incredible gain of 4,300%. No surprise, then, to see the shares end the week at 78p, no doubt some lucky investors banking a profit ahead of the weekend.

The business offers web design, web development and online marketing services, but what’s really got the City excited is its treasury policy that includes acquiring digital assets. Late last week, Smarter Web confirmed the £2 million purchase of another 24.52 bitcoin, taking its total holding to 83.24 bitcoin, currently worth £6.54 million. The average purchase price is $105,829.

A 10-year plan also spells out the firm’s ambition; the aim being to build “a significant war chest for acquisitions”, which would “present a brilliant opportunity for the UK to have a large, listed technology company ranking among the largest listed companies in the UK”.

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISAs

The three most popular collectives in ISAs on the ii platform last week were unchanged, showcasing the continued appeal of defensive, aggressive and conservative investment approaches.

Royal London Short Term Money Market was in first place. It aims to generate a “cash-like” return of just above the Bank of England interest rate, which is currently 4.25%. 

Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity owns a diversified basket of equity and bond funds, all for a low 0.22% fee. It is often described as “one-stop shop” portfolio which can be invested in each month and left to grow steadily.

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In third place was Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT), which owns private public growth shares, including Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and SpaceX.

The rising funds last week were HSBC FTSE All-World Index, JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI) and Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index. All invest globally and have high allocations to American companies.

City of London Ord (LSE:CTY), which yields 4.3% by selecting dividend-paying UK firms and has raised its annual payout to shareholders for 58 consecutive years now, fell to fifth place, while L&G Global Technology Index and NextEnergy Solar dropped off the list.

The new entries were Alliance Witan Ord (LSE:ALW) and Artemis Global Income, which is now the best global income fund among peers over the past one, three and five years.

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