This month, investors welcomed the Government’s commitment to allowing AIM stocks to be held within an ISA from 5 August. This has been a very interesting development and one which will increase the types of investments that can be accessed from a stocks and shares ISA.

Also easing the financial pressure, the decision earlier this year to remove stamp duty from AIM listed shares was great news both for smaller businesses, and also DIY investors.

At TD, we currently have nearly 40,000 clients with AIM stocks in their trading accounts, so the appetite for alternative types of investment is clearly already there.

We look at trends in AIM investment and what has captured investor interest over the last month:

• In July last year, the top 10 AIM buy trades among TD clients were almost solely taken up by natural resource stocks, but this trend seems to have shifted over the course of the last year. The top 10 is now a more diverse array of AIM stocks. For instance, satellite operator Avanti Communications was the number five AIM purchase in July 2013, with Africa’s low-cost airline FastJet taking ninth position.

• In the UK, Sirius Minerals (SXX) appeared in seventh place for July buys. Its shares dropped by 20% after the British miner announced on 15 June it had requested the North York Moors National Park Authority defer the determination of its mining application to allow it time to address legislation and environmental issues.

• Resources companies and UK banks continue to dominate the TD UK top 10 tables this month, with the top 10 buys being solely in this space. High street banking giants Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY), Barclays (BARC) and RBS Group (RBS) accounted for 50% of all top 10 trades for the month, while resources companies (including Gulf Keystone Petroleum Limited (GKP), Centamin PLC (CEY), Glencore Xstrata PLC (GLEN) and Rio Tinto PLC (RIO)) made up 40% of top 10 trades for July. Lloyds has appeared in the top 10 tables every week in 2013.

The Top 10 TD client Buys and Sells for July 2013