Most-bought FTSE 100 and AIM shares in June 2018

June is the second-worst month for stockmarket performance, but there have been some good buying opportunities. Here are the most-bought stocks on the interactive investor platform last month.

Richard Hunter, head of markets and interactive investor.

The FTSE 100 had an anodyne month in June, losing 0.5% overall, hampered by fears of an imminent trade war between the major economic blocs, intermittent sterling strength and generally lighter trading volumes.

Perennial favourites Lloyds Banking Group (1st), Glencore (2nd) and Vodafone Group (3rd) comfortably retained their places in the top ten most bought shares amongst clients, whereas elsewhere income-seeking clients continued to buy BP (dividend yield 5.2%) which came in at 9th, and Legal & General Group (yield 5.9%), which returned to the top tier at number seven after a one-month absence.

After large leaps last month, BT Group (5th) and Randgold Resources Ltd (10th) retained their places as investors continued to take a positive view on their potential recovery stories, with this theme being echoed by the appearance of Royal Bank of Scotland at number eight. The announcement in early June that the government had sold off nearly 8% of its stake for some £2.5 billion was warmly received by investors, despite the sale crystallising a loss for the government and with another 62% remaining. Even so, there is clearly an appetite to return the bank to being free of its clutches and even the possibility of a return to normality was enough to tempt buyers into the stock for the first time in quite a while.

Some weakness in Standard Life Aberdeen shares in early June as Lloyds Banking announced it was to sell its 3.3% stake for £344 million was also pounced upon by bargain-hunting clients, as Standard Life eased into sixth place. The additional attraction of a 6.5% dividend yield also provides an additional incentive should these clients need to wait for the shares to climb.

Source: interactive investor          Past performance is not a guide to future performance

Lee Wild, head of equity strategy and interactive investor.

Barely making the Top 20 in May, UK Oil & Gas Investments was the most popular AIM share on the interactive investor trading platform in June. The surge in popularity coincided with the resumption of flow test operations at it's part-owned oilfield a stone's throw from Gatwick Airport.

UKOG confirmed in results a few days later that it is still losing money, but it’s the long-term potential of the field as a significant producer of oil and cash flow over many years that’s generating interest. This uptick in demand bumped the share price up by 45% in June to prices not seen since February, although they're still way below last year's peak at 11p.

Greatland Gold came out of nowhere last month to grab second spot in the popularity stakes. Just days into a maiden exploration programme at its Black Hills licence in Western Australia, the company struck gold. Hope here is that Black Hills can replicate some of the success of the large Telfer gold mine just 30 kilometres to the west. If it does, the trebling in value of the share price during June will be just the start. Positive drill results from the Havieron licence, also in the Paterson region of Western Australia, have kept up the momentum.

Graphene group Versarien had a busy month. Appointed to the US National Graphene Association's industry council, a deal signed with Arrow GreenTech in India soon after launching its Graphinks brand is potentially significant, and there’s optimism that 2D materials will generate substantial commercial demand. A range of earphones using Versarien’s graphene also paves the way for further monetising the technology.

Source: interactive investor             Past performance is not a guide to future performance