Electric car manufacturer Tesla experienced the highest trading activity last week, suggesting it’s a popular choice among UK investors. But what other stocks have UK investors been buying and selling recently? Here’s the lowdown.
What’s the deal with Tesla?
According to Hargreaves Lansdown, its UK investors have been keen to both buy and sell Tesla shares over the past week. Elon Musk’s company, which is one of the most valuable car companies in the world, witnessed a 3.71% increase in the value of its shares traded over the past week.
Interestingly, Tesla also topped the list of the most sold shares. The value of Tesla shares being offloaded increased by 5.04% over the past week.
This activity suggests that Tesla stock is being bought and sold by a large number of day traders hoping to turn a quick profit from the car maker’s volatility.
Over the past seven days, the value of a Tesla share has fluctuated. It went from $1,037 (£761.23) to $1,208 (£883.08) by Monday, and then back down to $1,172 (£860.32) by Wednesday morning.
What other shares did UK investors buy last week?
Aside from Tesla, The Hut Group was a popular buy for UK investors, with a 2.2% increase in the value of deals. The activity has no doubt been driven by investors trying to capitalise on the company’s shares sliding by 7% over the past seven days following news that major investor BlackRock is to half its stake in the company.
The third most popular choice among UK investors was Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc. The company witnessed an increase of 2.09% in the value of its share purchases over the past week. The investment trust has witnessed a solid 2021 since its share price took a big tumble back in March.
Darktrace was the fourth most popular company among UK traders. The value of the cyber-defence company’s shares traded jumped by 1.92%.
Completing the top five was iShares plc, a collection of exchange-traded funds managed by BlackRock. The value of its shares purchased increased by 1.88%.
What shares did UK investors offload last week?
Besides Tesla, Lloyds Banking Group, Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc, iShares plc, and GlaxoSmithKline plc were the most common shares offloaded by Hargreaves Lansdown investors last week.
It’s worth knowing that Lloyds and GlaxoSmithKline both enjoyed a stellar October. Their respective share prices have risen by 13% and 12% over the past 30 days or so. However, high selling activity on these shares indicates UK investors don’t see their value rising as much in future. For this reason, many are choosing to crystallise their profits.
The appearance of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc and iShares plc, in both the most and least traded list, suggest that these companies are being favoured by day traders in a similar way to Tesla stock.
What does this trading activity tell us?
With three companies appearing on the list of most-bought and most-sold stocks, it seems logical that many short-term traders are looking to profit from stocks with volatile share prices. This is a risky strategy, as volatile shares can experience huge drops.
Many also believe that active investing – especially day trading – is a zero-sum game. In other words, for every winner, there has to be a loser. This isn’t necessarily the case for those who partake in passive investing.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that past performance does not indicate future returns. As a result, traders relying on the previous performance of a share price are unlikely to be successful. As with any investing, the value of your shares can fall as well as rise. Only ever invest what you can afford to lose.
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About the author
Karl is a writer specialising in investing and personal finance content. He regularly contributes articles on savings, bank accounts, mortgages, and loans. He was previously a Personal Finance Writer for MoneySavingExpert.
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