Top 10 most-purchased ETFs in February 2024
Technology exchange-traded funds rose up the ranks last month.
1st March 2024 11:41
by Sam Benstead from interactive investor
A strong February for stock markets prompted investors to follow the gains and buy exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that owned technology shares.
The biggest riser was iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector Ucits ETF, up three places to seventh. The tracker from BlackRock owns, for just 0.15%, the technology stocks in the S&P 500 index of America’s largest shares.
This means 64 positions, including 21% in Apple, 18.2% in Microsoft and 16.8% in Nvidia. Due to strong returns linked to artificial intelligence (AI) developments, this ETF is performing very well, up 14% this year and 50% over 12 months. This highly concentrated portfolio will, however, be very volatile.
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The other tech ETF making gains last month was new entry VanEck Semiconductor Ucits ETF. It owns 25 semiconductor stocks, including Nvidia, Broadcom and Intel. Computer chips are the brains and workhorses behind AI applications and demand for them is soaring. The ETF is up 62.7% over 12 months and 87.4% over three years.
The top four most-bought ETFs last month were unchanged from January. They were, in order: Vanguard S&P 500 Ucits ETF (dis), Vanguard S&P 500 Ucits ETF (acc), iShares Core MSCI World Ucits ETF and Invesco Nasdaq 100 Ucits ETF.
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Up one place each to fifth and sixth were Vanguard FTSE All World Ucits ETF (dis) and Vanguard FTSE All World Ucits ETF (acc).
iShares Core S&P 500 Ucits ETF and Vanguard FTSE Developed World Ucits ETF were unchanged in eighth and ninth place.
Global and US tracker funds are dominated by large technology stocks and have therefore performed well this year and the over the past decade. Developed world strategies, such as SWDA and VHVG have about 70% invested in the US, while “all world” funds such as VWRL and VWRP have about 65%.
Reflecting demand for expensive but fast-growing US shares over cheap but lower-growth UK ones, iShares FTSE 100 Ucits ETF dropped off the list last month.
Top 10 most-popular ETFs in February 2024
| Position | ETF | Change on last month | One-year return (%) | Three-year return (%) |
| 1 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) | No change | 23.8 | 52.7 |
| 2 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG) | No change | 23.8 | 52.7 |
| 3 | iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SWDA) | No change | 19.10 | 41.4 |
| 4 | Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ) | No change | 42.6 | 54.9 |
| 5 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) | Up one | 17.2 | 33.9 |
| 6 | Vanguard FTSE All-World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VWRP) | Up one | 17.2 | 33.9 |
| 7 | iShares S&P 500 Info Tech Sect ETF$Acc GBP (LSE:IITU) | Up three | 50.4 | 81.9 |
| 8 | iShares Core S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:CSP1) | No change | 23.8 | 52.7 |
| 9 | Vanguard FTSE Dev World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VHVG) | No change | 18.9 | 40.1 |
| 10 | VanEck Semiconductor ETF GBP (LSE:SMGB) | New entry | 62.7 | 87.4 |
Source: FE FundInfo/interactive investor, 1 March 2023. The top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of February 2024.
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