10 most popular FTSE 100 shares in May 2018
13th June 2018 10:13
by Richard Hunter from interactive investor
Richard Hunter, head of markets at interactive investor, reveals the most-bought blue-chips on the ii trading platform last month. There are some big surprises!
The FTSE 100 enjoyed a 2.3% rise in May, fuelled largely by a weaker sterling, ongoing froth in M&A, and stronger oil and metal prices.
This reflected in our clients' top 10 most-bought shares, with the usual stalwarts BP and Glencore joined by Randgold Resources Ltd, who climbed 17 places to come in at number 10. Its weak Q1 update (pre-tax profit down 27%) brought the one-year share performance to stand at -22%, clearly enough to tempt bargain hunters.
Along a similar theme, climbing 12 places to number three, was BT Group, where a materially lower-than-expected set of final results pushed the shares down nearly 8% on the day (32% over the last year), again drawing in investors who believed that BT was due a bounce.
Source: interactive investor
Elsewhere, up 12 places to 7th was Taylor Wimpey, whose strategy day in mid-May was accompanied by the announcement of a special dividend, effectively boosting the pay-out by 20% and improving the current yield of 2.5% to a projected yield of over 7%.
Perennial favourites Vodafone Group and Lloyds Banking Group took the top two spots, helped no doubt by respective dividend yields of 7% and 4.8%, both attractive in the current interest rate environment.
For similar reasons, also holding on to their places were National Grid (yield 5.5%) and Centrica (8.2%) in 8th and 9th places.
Source: interactive investor
Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company’s or index name highlighted in the article.
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Full performance can be found on the company or index summary page on the interactive investor website. Simply click on the company's or index name highlighted in the article.