10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 7 August 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

Four new entries made the list of most-bought stocks in ISAs on the ii platform this week, including a new number one.

A fall of almost 6% during the week for drug maker AstraZeneca (LSE:AZN) resulted in bargain hunting for the maker of cancer medicines. Early week press reports of a $400 billion (£296 billion) merger between Astra and US rival Bristol-Myers Squibb Co (NYSE:BMY) created share price weakness. The speculated deal would create the world’s fourth-largest pharmaceutical firm by market value, trailing only Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) and AbbVie Inc (NYSE:ABBV).

Confirmation of such talks failed to emerge, with analysts sceptical regarding such a deal given antitrust issues. Broker UBS highlighted surprise over any such merger, flagging both the historical challenges of mega-deals within the industry causing R&D productivity to stagnate, as well as the apparent breadth and depth of Astra’s in-house pipeline.

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Shares in banking titan HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA) dipped 3% over the week generating bargain hunting and explaining the lender’s entry at number six. A newly announced $1 billion share buyback programme, disclosed during its recent half-year results, was potentially disappointing compared to forecasts for up to $3 billion.

More favourably, a second-quarter profit contribution of $10.1 billion rose 60% from the corresponding period, surpassing analyst forecasts of $9.9 billion. All four of the bank’s divisions contributed to rising profits.

Elsewhere, results and a 6% share price decline over the week for oil major BP (LSE:BP.) accounted for its entry in seventh place. Second-quarter adjusted profits soared 140% year-over-year to $5.73 billion, comfortably exceeding City estimates of $5.11 billion.

It was BP’s strongest quarterly profits since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. The dividend was raised 4% to 8.66 US cents per share. A near 10% decline in the price of oil over the week on the back of events in the Middle East also fed into the share price decline. Broker Morgan Stanley reiterated its ‘overweight’ stance on BP post the results.

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NatWest Group (LSE:NWG) also joined the list in eighth place. Results the previous Friday proved strong. First-half income climbed 11% to £8.86 billion, pushing pre-tax profit 20.4% higher to £4.32 billion.

The bank also upped full-year income hopes to £17.9 billion from a previous estimate as low as £17.2 billion. Broker Deutsche Bank rated NatWest a ‘buy’ following the numbers.

Finally, newly listed Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX) rose five places to the second spot. Results from the Elon Musk-led company saw second-quarter revenues of $7.8 billion beat Wall Street hopes of $6.9 billion. Capital expenditure or investment in features such as AI rose sixfold to $18.4 billion, also surpassing analyst hopes. The shares ended a volatile week up 23%. 

Top 10 funds and trusts in ISA 

Fund investors have largely stuck to their guns for another week, with cash fund Royal London Short Term Money Mkt Y Acc (B8XYYQ8) still topping the list, followed by two broad equity trackers.

In terms of passive funds, we also see Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity A Acc (B4PQW15) climb three places, while its full equity equivalent knocks the Fidelity Index World fund out of the table. The LifeStrategy funds do give a slightly different flavour to passive global equity investing by having much less of a US bias.

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The active funds in the list continue to offer either one of two things: access to some of the big themes currently driving markets, or a chunky dividend yield.

In the first camp there’s early Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX) holder Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) and Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT), both of which have generated some big returns so far in 2026. Artemis Global Income I Acc (B5ZX1M7) has also performed strongly, in part because of its exposure to emerging markets.

Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) and Henderson Far East Income Ord (LSE:HFEL) continue to draw investors in with their substantial share price dividend yields. Our recent interviews with the latter can be viewed here and here.

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