Top 10 most popular investment trusts: October 2026

Four new names entered our investment trust bestseller list for October, with global equity and property funds making way for a variety of specialist options. 

Two property funds that had proved popular in September, Schroder Real Estate Invest Ord (LSE:SREI) and Tritax Big Box Ord (LSE:BBOX), dropped out of the top 10 in October.  

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We also saw two popular global equity funds, F&C Investment Trust Ord (LSE:FCIT) and JPMorgan Global Growth & Income Ord (LSE:JGGI), exit the list.

Investors have favoured a variety of options in their place, from a private equity behemoth to an infrastructure fund. 

Note that our data focuses on “real time” buys, ignoring the choices ii customers make with their regular investment plans. 

The new names 

The trusts in October’s list are specialist but far from obscure, and have had wildly different experiences when it comes to returns in the last year. 

To start with a big beast, the UK’s biggest investment trust by market capitalisation, 3i Group Ord (LSE:III), returns to the list. 

Having long traded on an eye-watering premium to net asset value (NAV), 3i Group’s shares descended into discount territory roughly a year ago, drawing in bargain hunters. 

That’s because of concerns about Action, the European discount retailer that makes up the bulk of the trust’s portfolio. 

Late last year the trust warned over sales growth in France, Action’s biggest market.  

The retailer has also unveiled plans to expand into America – something that might not sit easily with UK investors who have watched companies like Tesco (LSE:TSCO) try and fail to crack that particular market. 

The trust’s shares have remained pretty volatile this year, although some positive updates have at times helped them stabilise. They trade on a discount of around 21% to NAV. 

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The other new entrants to the table have focused on very different parts of the investment universe, with some good recent bouts of performance. 

There’s Seraphim Space Investment Trust Ord (LSE:SSIT), which has more than doubled investors’ money over a 12-month period but is far from a steady name, with the shares down by around 13% over six months. 

The fund has continued to produce good news for shareholders, including a substantial upward revaluation for top holding ICEYE. 

The shares currently trade on a big discount, although these can swing substantially between premiums and discounts. 

We, meanwhile, see BlackRock World Mining Trust Ord (LSE:BRWM) make its way back into the table. 

The fund has struggled in recent months but still sits on some strong 12-month returns.  

Around a third of the portfolio is tied up in gold mining shares, with 31% in “diversified” miners and 16.2% in copper. 

Top holdings include BHP Group Ltd (LSE:BHP), Glencore (LSE:GLEN), Rio Tinto  Ordinary Shares (LSE:RIO) and Anglo American (LSE:AAL). 

It’s also worth noting that the fund’s share price dividend yield, which can sometimes be fairly high, comes in at a moderate 2.6% at the moment. 

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The fourth name to enter October’s bestseller list is infrastructure fund International Public Partnerships Ord (LSE:INPP). 

It has around 130 infrastructure assets across areas such as transport, energy transmission, gas distribution, waste water and education, with the majority of its assets in the UK. 

The shares yield an attractive 6.3%, even after a run of strong returns. 

Going for growth 

The six names that maintain their place in the list reflect the breadth of investment types available from the closed-ended fund sector, from punchy growth portfolios to income vehicles. 

To start with the former, Scottish Mortgage Ord (LSE:SMT) holds on to the top spot. 

The fund has struggled amid the recent tech sell-off, having done well earlier this year in the run-up to the Space Exploration Technologies Corp Class A (NASDAQ:SPCX) initial public offering (IPO).  

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Investors with a good appetite for risk and interest in the trends of the future have plenty to like, from the other IPO candidates the trust holds to artificial intelligence (AI) plays like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd ADR (NYSE:TSM), NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) and ASML Holding NV (EURONEXT:ASML) in its top 10 holdings list. 

The portfolio’s focus also expands to healthcare names like Moderna Inc (NASDAQ:MRNA) and e-commerce companies like MercadoLibre Inc (NASDAQ:MELI). 

Investors are still waiting to see where Scottish Mortgage’s SpaceX position will settle at, with the company still accounting for some 15% of the portfolio at the end of September. 

Investors also continue to back the Polar Capital Technology Ord (LSE:PCT) trust, which performed especially well earlier this year in part thanks to a good level of exposure to emerging markets. 

Holding such a fund is not always a smooth ride, thanks to the nasty sell-offs that can suddenly engulf the tech sector. PCT shareholders would have lost around 15% in October alone. 

Our recent interviews with portfolio manager Ben Rogoff can be seen here and here. 

The thirst for income 

Investment trusts continue to hold their own when it comes to dividend generation, and plenty of income funds remain in our monthly top 10. 

There’s Greencoat UK Wind (LSE:UKW) in third place, which has a 9% dividend yield. 

The fund and its peers have had a trying few years but things have looked brighter in the last year, with performance recovering notably. 

It’s a similar story for Renewables Infrastructure Grp (LSE:TRIG), which sits in sixth place. 

Our recent interviews with the TRIG team can be seen here and here. 

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We, meanwhile, see a couple of very different equity income funds in the list. 

There’s City of London Ord (LSE:CTY), which currently offers a yield of 3.9%, focuses largely on UK blue-chip stocks and has increased its dividend for 60 consecutive years. 

Then there’s Henderson Far East Income Ord (LSE:HFEL), whose share price dividend yield comes to around 10%. 

HFEL has tended to underperform other Asian income trusts, although its manager has argued that it has tried to exercise caution in a market rally dominated by a handful of stocks associated with the AI trade. 

With Asian markets tumbling, HFEL shareholders had a challenging October.  

They lost almost 7% - although the MSCI AC Asia ex Japan index and the four other trusts in the AIC Asia Pacific Equity Income sector all suffered even greater losses. 

Top 10 most popular investment trusts in October

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