Your favourite funds, trusts and shares in November

Vaccine optimism breaks records, but fund investors stick with industry stalwarts and shun passives.

The month of November was extremely strong for global shares, while the FTSE 100 chalked up its best performance since 1989 - boosted by growing optimism that Covid-19 vaccination breakthroughs will trigger an economic recovery. 

interactive investor, the UK’s second largest consumer investment platform, experienced its busiest day ever for customer trades on 9 November after news of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine sent markets into a frenzy. This record-breaking day was 23.5% up on interactive investor’s previous record high on 8 June 2020.

Rolls-Royce (LSE:RR.) topped the list of the bestselling FTSE 100 stocks in November, ahead of British Airways owner International Consolidated Airlines Group (LSE:IAG) in second place and Lloyds Banking Group (LSE:LLOY) in third.

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However, despite what was an eventful month for global markets, with the US Presidential elections and the second national lockdown for England making a splash, the top 10 most bought funds and investment trusts lists remained largely unchanged on from October, with Fundsmith Equity and Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust (LSE:SMT) respectively retaining the number one spot on the fund and trusts top buys.

Investment trusts

The ‘rise of the East’ was a theme that once again played out for the second month in a row – most notably among the most bought investment trusts. Three China specialist trusts made the top 10 cut:  Baillie Gifford China Growth Trust (LSE:BGCG), Fidelity China Special Situations (LSE:FCSS) and JPMorgan China Growth & Income (LSE:JCGI) in second, third and fourth positions, respectively.

Pacific Horizon (LSE:PHI) (fifth) and Japanese investment trust Baillie Gifford Shin Nippon (LSE:BGS) (sixth) are the other investment trusts investing in eastern regions on the list.

Funds

The eastern theme was also prevalent in the list of funds bestsellers, with Baillie Gifford China in third position, Baillie Gifford Pacific in seventh and Legg Mason IF Japan Equity in 10th. However, global was the dominant theme in the funds space, accounting for six out of the 10 bestsellers.

Investors’ appetite to the UK remains soured. Not a single UK focussed fund made the top 10 in November, and the only UK investment trust was industry stalwart City of London (LSE:CTY).

Active funds continue to be a favourite among ii customers, with Baillie Gifford once dominating – accounting for six of the top 10. The reverse is true for passive funds, with only two making the top 10 cut: Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity and the 60% Equity variant. This is a far cry away from March this year when Vanguard was dominant and had six funds in the top 10 and Baillie Gifford funds did not feature on the top 10 list.

Teodor Dilov, Fund Analyst, interactive investor, says: “The fan-fare around the breakthrough in the fight against the dastardly Covid-19 virus stoked markets into a frenzy in November, but its impact on our funds and investment trusts bestsellers lists was somewhat muted.

“The likes of Fundsmith Equity, Scottish Mortgage and Vanguard LifeStrategy funds remain clear favourites among our customer base regardless of the market condition, having won them over with stellar performance track records and solid investment philosophies. However, the persistence of the eastern theme suggests that some customers have turned to professional stock pickers to profit from the prevailing market conditions which has seen China, Japan and other Asian continues fare much better than Western regions in terms of managing Coronavirus.”

Richard Hunter, Head of Markets, interactive investor, says: “The FTSE 100’s 12% spike in November was propelled in particular by a recovery in beaten-down stocks which stand to benefit from a return to some kind of normality and by the very sector constituents which have held the index back over recent months. Customers of ii rode this wave.

“Airline and airline-related stocks such as Rolls-Royce moved ahead, while the potential for a recovery in oil demand was positive for the likes of BP and Shell. Meanwhile, the improved sentiment also extended to the banks, where an improvement in economic fortunes post-pandemic could mitigate some of the billions of pounds already taken in bad debt provisions this year.

“These sectors were well represented within the top ten most popular stocks.”

Top 10 most-bought funds, investment trusts and equities (overall) and FTSE 100 equities on interactive investor in November 2020