Top 10 most-popular investment trusts: October 2025

Three new names entered our top 10 investment trust table in October, with investors showing a combination of performance-chasing and contrarian thinking.

Our monthly tables are based on the number of buys, with regular investing excluded. 

The most topical trust to enter October’s list was Golden Prospect Precious Metal Ord (LSE:GPM), which focuses on small and mid-cap companies in the precious metals sector.

• Invest with ii: Open a SIPP | What is a SIPP | SIPP Cashback Offers

Some 85.8% of the trust’s exposure is to gold, and with the yellow metal’s price surging this year the fund has made some enormous returns.

Adventurous investors did get the chance to buy into this trust at a cheaper level in October, with a big single-day fall interrupting gold’s strong run and the trust’s share price discount to net asset value (NAV) widening notably. That discount came to 9.4% on 31 October.

While buyers might simply be hoping to ride the gold rally higher, the appearance of another name in the table points to a more contrarian mindset.

NextEnergy Solar Ord (LSE:NESF)shareholders may well feel a little sorry for themselves, sitting on a 7.5% loss over a 12-month stretch and a heftier loss of almost a quarter over three years.

There has also been little in the way of encouraging news for the trust: its last quarterly update, published on 21 August, pointed to an NAV decline. This pushed its debt, including preference shares, to 48.5% of assets, close to a self-imposed cap of 50%.

If that’s glum news, the investment manager has reduced its fees (as with many rivals), and the board has lauded the high quality of the trust’s assets and promised that it is “reviewing all options available to maximise value for shareholders”. It’s also worth noting that renewable energy infrastructure trusts in general are having a tough time.

• The investment trusts in Saba’s sights: what it means for investors
• Gold: buy the dip, or mind the drop?

In that context, why is NESF back in the list, alongside regular cast member Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW)? The price tag, or the dividend, might simply be too hard to ignore. NESF shares trade on a discount to NAV approaching 35%, while the shares offer a dividend yield of nearly 14%.

Investors are getting paid to wait for things to improve, and there’s a chance that names on such big discounts get bought out by private entity or absorbed by another trust, giving shareholders an exit at a decent profit. But there could be plenty of volatility on the way.

Henderson Far East Income Ord (LSE:HFEL), the third name to enter the list in October, is something of a curious case. There’s plenty to like about it: the shares have consistently traded on a double-digit dividend yield since the summer of 2023, and as the table shows the share price total return looks impressive over a 12-month period.

The trust also has a sizeable allocation to China, something that might appeal now that market is back in vogue, with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd ADR (NYSE:BABA) and Tencent Holdings Ltd (SEHK:700) among its top 10 positions.

But there are a couple of frustrations for investors. For one, the trust’s shares have tended to trade at a premium to NAV in recent history, with said premium amounting to 5% at the end of October.

The trust’s shares might have returned 20% over 12 months but that still puts HFEL behind every other name in the AIC’s Asia and Asia Equity Income sectors, bar the India-heavy Pacific Assets Ord (LSE:PAC).

• China’s flying: should you go all in or invest across emerging markets?
• Sign up to our free newsletter for investment ideas, latest news and award-winning analysis

However, some might be happy to sacrifice total returns in the name of a big income payout: the trust’s last half-year results (covering the six months to 28 February 2025) noted that underperformance in that period had related to a lack of exposure to Chinese tech names, which did very well but offer no yield.

Sticking with the theme of China’s resurgence, Fidelity China Special Situations Ord (LSE:FCSS) is down two places but still in the list. The fund is comfortably ahead of two other dedicated China investment trusts, and the MSCI China index, over one and three years, and sits in our Super 60 list of investment ideas.

Elsewhere, we see investors targeting some very different themes. There’s clear appetite for growth investing, and potentially for exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) and technologies of the future, with Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) in the top spot and Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) up to second place in October.

The investment teams have both dedicated plenty of time to the subject of AI in recent years, although PCT has more exposure to market darlings such as NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA). As we discussed last month, SMT does have a more nuanced form of exposure to different themes than some might first assume.

JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI) clings on to a spot in the top 10 list. The trust has done plenty to wow investors in recent years, from generating strong returns in different market conditions thanks to its flexible investment approach, to the enhanced dividend policy now favoured by many JPMorgan-managed trusts. That means JGGI pays out a proportion of its NAV as a dividend, allowing the team to choose what they see as the best overall investments without worrying about how much they might yield.

However, the trust, which seeks to take exposure to different investment styles but does have big weightings to the likes of Nvidia, Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN), has struggled in 2025. That has at least offered a cheaper way for investors to buy in. JGGI shares traded on a discount of around 4% to NAV at the time of writing, a notable difference from the small premium it traded on at the start of this year.

• Budget 2025 preview: weighing up the cost of income tax hikes
• 10 hottest ISA shares, funds and trusts: week ended 31 October 2025

Finally, with the FTSE 100 riding high we see two UK income funds, City of London Ord (LSE:CTY) and Temple Bar Ord (LSE:TMPL), in the top five. Both sit on strong returns over 12 months, with Temple Bar’s performance putting it ahead of all other funds in the IA and AIC’s UK All Companies and UK Equity Income sectors.

City of London looks like a classic UK income fund, with a third of its portfolio in financials and dividend stalwarts, from Shell (LSE:SHEL) to HSBC Holdings (LSE:HSBA), British American Tobacco (LSE:BATS) and Unilever (LSE:ULVR), in its top 10. Investors might be drawn to its 59-year record of dividend increases.

Temple Bar is known for its value investing approach and has a couple of interesting quirks. For one, it has more than a quarter of its portfolio in stocks listed overseas, something the investment team prefers in part to give greater diversification to the fund.

Second, the abundance of buybacks in the UK market this year prompted the trust to adopt a form of enhanced dividend policy. This meant an increase in its dividend, and a pledge to fund this using capital and revenue reserves where needed, given that the buyback frenzy had led to UK companies paying out less in dividends themselves.

Top 10 most-popular trusts in October 2025

Source: FE Analytics. Performance data to 31 October 2025. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of October. Past performance is not a guide to future performance.