Investors gained confidence following the US election and ploughed their savings into US and global equities, as well as tech funds last month.
Fidelity Personal Investing’s clients banked on president-elect Donald Trump’s ability to stimulate the US economy by buying Artemis US Smaller Companies, JPMorgan US Smaller Companies, JPMorgan American and Baillie Gifford US Growth.
Optimism about the US economy extended to a buoyant outlook for global growth. JPMorgan Global Growth & Income was a best-seller amongst clients of Fidelity and interactive investor (ii) in November. The trust is run by FE fundinfo Alpha Managers Helge Skibeli and Timothy Woodhouse alongside James Cook.
Tom Stevenson, investment director at Fidelity International, said: “We’re seeing a clear shift towards diversification and growth, with global equity and technology-focused funds taking centre stage.”
Fidelity clients also bought Artemis Global Income, Fidelity Global Dividend, Mid Wynd International and the Invesco Global Equity Income Trust. Savers using ii’s platform picked Alliance Witan and F&C Investment Trust.
The popularity of tech funds such as Legal & General Global Technology Index Trust and Fidelity Global Technology suggests that investors “anticipate conditions for innovation and growth under the new administration”, Stevenson added.
The Polar Capital Technology trust was a new entrant to ii’s list of the 10 most-bought investment trusts last month.
Meanwhile, passive investing continued to be popular amongst investors seeking cheap, efficient exposure to buoyant stock markets. Vanguard LifeStrategy 80% Equity was the most-bought fund on ii last month, while Vanguard US Equity Index, Fidelity Index World and HSBC FTSE All World Index were also popular.
Most-bought investments on interactive investor in November
Source: interactive investor
For the second consecutive month, Fundsmith Equity did not feature on ii’s top 10 most-bought funds list. Kyle Caldwell, funds and investment education editor at ii, said: “Fundsmith Equity’s performance has suffered due to not owning artificial intelligence darling Nvidia, which recently overtook Apple to become the world’s biggest company.”
Elsewhere, UK equity funds enjoyed their first month of net inflows in three years, according to Calastone. Fidelity’s clients chose the Edinburgh Investment Trust, City of London and Law Debenture.
Best-selling trusts on Fidelity Personal Investing in November
Source: Fidelity International
November’s buying spree was in part a reversal of sales during October when investors sought to lock in capital gains ahead of the Budget, according to Calastone.
Interest rate cuts also encouraged investors to venture out of cash into higher-growth opportunities. The Royal London Short Term Money Market fund and Fidelity Cash fund, which have appeared on Fidelity’s best-selling list for much of this year, fell out of favour in November.
Best-selling funds on Fidelity Personal Investing in November
Source: Fidelity International