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Experienced Investor

The funds DIY investors have been buying

Joanna Faith
Written By:
Joanna Faith
Posted:
Updated:
10/05/2017

April is typically a busy month for investors as they rush to use up any remaining ISA allowance before the end of the tax year and start to use up their new allowance.

Of course, this tax year savers and investors have a new and vastly increased ISA limit of £20,000. But which investment funds attracted the most money in the final few days of 2016/17 and the opening weeks of 2017/18?

According to online platform Bestinvest, funds primarily focused on equities proved most popular in April and seasoned active fund managers remained firm favourite.

Star manager Neil Woodford’s new Income Focus fund, which only launched in March, managed to nab sixth place in Bestinvest’s top 10 list, while Woodford’s more-established Equity Income fund secured fourth position. The new fund prioritises income and aims to deliver a 5% yield by the end of 2018.

In pole position, however, was Fundsmith Equity, run by veteran manager Terry Smith. The fund has been the best-seller among Bestinvest clients since June last year. Smith employs an invest-and-hold strategy and currently has Microsoft, Pepsico and Paypal among his top ten holdings.

Stewart Investors Asia Pacific Leaders continued to draw in money – taking third place. That’s despite a fair amount of caution towards emerging markets and Asia given President Trump’s views on raising import tariffs to protect US jobs. The fund focuses on large and mid-cap companies and its highest weightings are in India and Taiwan.

Also claiming a spot in the top 10 was Liontrust Special Situations, which has a very distinct investment process. The UK fund invests in companies with an economic advantage including owning intellectual property, having strong distribution channels and recurring revenue streams.

Just one tracker fund made an appearance in the top 10 last month – HSBC American Index, which follows the S&P 500 index.

The 15 most popular funds with Bestinvest clients in April:

bestinvest