The top 10 most-purchased ETFs in November 2023
Investors seek exposure to the big tech winners of the year.
4th December 2023 12:12
by Kyle Caldwell from interactive investor
The main stock market story of 2023 has arguably been the strong share price performance of the so-called Magnificent Seven US technology companies. These household names have seen their share prices boosted amid excitement over the potential of artificial intelligence (AI), which is predicted to disrupt various industries.
In November, those tech behemoths continued to be on fine form, which was reflected in Technology & Technology Innovation being the top-performing fund sector, with an average gain of 9.7%. However, that average return falls short of the Nasdaq index, which was up 11.1%.
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Among our 10 most-popular exchange-traded funds (ETFs), the Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ) was the only new entrant in November, while the WisdomTree NASDAQ 100 3x Dl Short ETP GBP (LSE:LQQS) was the ETF that fell out of the list. This is a sign that investors are adopting more of a glass half-full stance on the outlook for technology stocks, which have seen their share prices and valuations rise in 2023. The Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF has been in the top 10 on a couple of occasions in 2023, last appearing in the list in October. The ETF tracks the 100 largest companies listed on the Nasdaq. This index is tech-heavy and often taken as a proxy for the performance of US tech in general.
Bear in mind that if you have exposure to a global or US fund - active or passive - the likelihood is that you will already have exposure to AI, due to most funds having exposure to the tech giants listed in the US.
Maintaining top position in the November top 10 is the Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) (distribution). This has plenty of exposure to the Magnificent Seven, namely Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA). The accumulation share class of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG) is third in the table.
In second place is the iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SWDA), while the Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) is in fourth. The former has nearly 70% in US shares, while the latter has just over 60%. Both have Apple, Microsoft and Amazon as their top three holdings.
Investors continue to view the UK market as a potential value opportunity, with the iShares Core FTSE 100 Ucits ETF, WisdomTree FTSE 100 3x Daily Lvrgd ETP (LSE:3UKL) , Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) and Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (LSE:VUKE) all featuring in November.
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Since interest rate rises began, larger UK companies have generally held up well, and it is this area of the market that investors continue to focus on.
The same, however, cannot be said for UK medium and smaller-sized companies. The key reason is that companies listed below the FTSE 100 tend to have more of a domestic footprint, which means they are sensitive to the performance of the UK economy, and a slowdown in consumer spending is a headwind.
Elsewhere, the Lyxor Smart Overnight Return ETF rose one place to eighth. This is an actively managed ETF that invests in a diversified portfolio of financial instruments and repurchase agreements to deliver a cash-like return. Cash-equivalent investments have risen in value over the past two years due to higher interest rates.
And finally, the iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) slipped two places to 10th. This exchange-traded fund (ETF) was a new entry in September’s most-bought ETF list. Gold is among a small number of assets whose value tends to be uncorrelated with other assets. Therefore, when stock markets are going through a rocky patch, gold tends to perform well. However, gold does not pay an income, and with relatively low-risk bonds, such as UK government bonds, offering yields of around 5%, the safe-haven appeal of gold looks less attractive compared with income-paying alternatives.
| Rank | ETF name | Change on last month | One-year return (%) | Three-year return (%) |
| 1 | Vanguard S&P 500 UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VUSA) (distributing) | No change | 10.9 | 37.3 |
| 2 | iShares Core MSCI World ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:SWDA) | Up one | 10.0 | 28.9 |
| 3 | Vanguard S&P 500 ETF USD Acc GBP (LSE:VUAG) (accumulation) | Up two | 10.9 | 37.3 |
| 4 | iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF GBP Dist (LSE:ISF) | Down two | 3.4 | 30.0 |
| 5 | WisdomTree FTSE 100 3x Daily Lvrgd ETP (LSE:3UKL) | Up one | -5.2 | 54.5 |
| 6 | Vanguard FTSE All-World UCITS ETF GBP (LSE:VWRL) | Down two | 8.5 | 24.1 |
| 7 | Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF GBP (LSE:EQQQ) | New entry | 28.9 | 36.4 |
| 8 | Lyxor Smart Overnight Return ETF C GBP (LSE:CSH2) | Up one | 4.7 | 7.4 |
| 9 | Vanguard FTSE 100 UCITS ETF (LSE:VUKE) | Up one | 3.5 | 23.5 |
| 10 | iShares Physical Gold ETC GBP (LSE:SGLN) | Down two | 11.2 | 18.7 |
Source: FE FundInfo/interactive investor, 1 December 2023. Note: the top 10 is based on the number of “buys” during the month of November.
These articles are provided for information purposes only. Occasionally, an opinion about whether to buy or sell a specific investment may be provided by third parties. The content is not intended to be a personal recommendation to buy or sell any financial instrument or product, or to adopt any investment strategy as it is not provided based on an assessment of your investing knowledge and experience, your financial situation or your investment objectives. The value of your investments, and the income derived from them, may go down as well as up. You may not get back all the money that you invest. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.
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