Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: July 2026

Investment trust fans bought back into the commodity complex in July, with BlackRock World Mining Trust Ord (LSE:BRWM) entering our bestseller list after a rocky period.

BRWM, along with many other commodity and natural resources portfolios, has had a wild few months, with sharp ups and downs in its share price in response to developments in the Middle East.

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The fund, which buys shares in mining companies such as Rio Tinto  Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO) and Glencore (LSE:GLEN), has made huge gains in the last 12 months, partly thanks to a decent level of exposure to the gold sector.

That gold allocation will have hurt performance in 2026, however, given that the precious metal’s price stalled in the face of conflict in the Middle East.

And while uncertainty around the situation in the Middle East has not abated, investors are going for such exposure again via the trust. Its shares recently traded on a modest, 2% discount and a 2.7% dividend yield.

The second name to enter our July table, which excludes regular investing and should give a sense of customers’ more tactical buys, is renewable energy infrastructure stalwart Renewables Infrastructure Grp (LSE:TRIG). 

That comes with an attractive price tag, as demonstrated by a share price discount to net asset value (NAV) of more than 25% and a 9.8% dividend yield. TRIG joins another renewables name, the high-yielding Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW), in the list.

The renewable energy infrastructure sector has faced all manner of curveballs over the years, from the effect of higher government bond yields to regulatory changes and the broader malaise hitting investment trusts.

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Some of the challenges of operating in this space were illustrated by TRIG’s recently published update for the second quarter of 2026. The trust’s NAV fell by around 3p a share, thanks to declining power price forecasts as well as a grid outage at one of its assets.

However, the trust, like many of its peers, has outlined plans to turn things around. Earlier this year TRIG’s board set a target to sell some £400 million of assets in the space of 12 months, with the intention of using the proceeds to buy back shares, reduce debt and back “higher-returning proprietary internal opportunities”.

Growth still king

Worries about the prospect of an artificial intelligence (AI) bubble continue to nag at investors and in recent weeks we have seen Asian names associated with this theme, such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:TSM)and SK hynix Inc ADR (NASDAQ:SKHY), sell off heavily. 

But this has not dented the appetite for trusts that target tech and other “growth” sectors.

Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT), which has likely outpaced rivals like Allianz Technology Trust Ord (LSE:ATT) this year because of its bigger allocation to emerging markets, moves up into first place, one ahead of the growth-focused early Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX) backer Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT).

Investors are meanwhile getting plenty of exposure to the likes of the Magnificent Seven in this list via both F&C Investment Trust Ord (LSE:FCIT) and JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI). The punchy Seraphim Space Investment Trust Ord (LSE:SSIT) also holds on in the list, although it slides down to seventh place.

Seraphim has made phenomenal returns in recent years but has seen its shares tumble since late May. 

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Some of the momentum may well have come out of its theme of choice since the SpaceX flotation in June.

More income

We meanwhile see a couple of popular equity income funds in the list. Henderson Far East Income Ord (LSE:HFEL), which comes with a share price dividend yield of almost 10% but has tended to lag its rivals by total returns, moves up to third place.

There’s also the ultimate income stalwart in the form of UK fund City of London Ord (LSE:CTY). The trust’s 3.7% dividend yield is lower than that of some peers but it has a lengthy record of increasing its payout since 1966. 

Total returns have also been very strong in recent years, although the trust’s popularity means the shares tend to trade on a small premium.

The portfolio should be full of blue-chip names already familiar to UK investors, from HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA) to Shell (LSE:SHEL), British American Tobacco (LSE:BATS), NatWest Group (LSE:NWG) and Tesco (LSE:TSCO).

The departures

Two very different names exited the list in July. One was Allianz Technology, which has benefited less from the emerging market rally than Polar Capital Technology but suffered less during the recent sell-off. It should be added that both trusts have suffered double-digit share price falls in the space of a month.

The other name to exit the top 10 has begun to show signs of recovery after a challenging period. 3i Group Ord (LSE:III) has had a torrid run of performance since late 2025 thanks to some weaker numbers from main holding Action, combined with some worries about the discount retailer’s US expansion plans.

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But the shares have perked up since late June, when an update pointed to strong performance from Action in the first half of 2026. 

As such, 3i shares have returned around 15% in the space of a month. The discount on the trust’s shares has narrowed to around the 8% mark. 

Top 10 most-popular investment trusts in July

Source: FE. The top 10 is based on the number of buys in July. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.