Best-selling funds, Investment Trusts and ETFs of June 2026

It was a rocky month for global stock markets, even as the conflict in Iran appeared to come to a fragile conclusion. The Strait of Hormuz reopened and traffic started to flow. Oil prices dropped quickly, back to levels not seen since February and bond yields started to fall. But investors started to look more closely at the AI phenomenon and worry about its sustainability.

The reopening of the Strait of Hormuz did not bring the triumphalist response from stock markets that might have been expected a few months ago. The oil price dropped to $70 a barrel and policymakers breathed a sigh of relief, thinking that they may get away without raising interest rates. Bond yields dropped as investors slowly took rate rises off the table.

The MSCI World index was down 0.7% over the month. Some of the US technology giants had an even tougher time – the CNBC Mag7 index fell 8.6% over the month. Even the apparently unstoppable semiconductor trade started to wobble after reaching a peak mid-month. Goldman Sachs prime brokerage data showed hedge funds cut their holdings of semiconductor stocks and equipment makers for the final three weeks of June.

In the end, however, it seems to have been a pull-back rather than the start of something more serious. Some of the semiconductor groups had seen triple digit gains for the year to date. While price rises have been supported by earnings, there were worries that gains had moved ahead of reality. The Korean and Taiwanese markets, which are heavily exposed to the AI infrastructure trade, were particularly volatile over the month.

While all eyes were on the technology sector, other areas were quietly reviving. Of these, healthcare was the most notable. After a long time in the doldrums, investors finally started to reappraise the regulatory and tariff-related risks in the sector. The MSCI World Healthcare index was around 6% ahead of the MSCI World [1]. Financials and industrials were the other main areas of strength over the month, while energy was a particular weak spot as the oil price fell.

UK markets were less exciting, with the FTSE 100 rising just 1.5% over the month [2]. UK small and mid caps were marginally lower. The ongoing political turmoil in the UK may have deterred investors. However, a coronation is now more likely than a competition in the race to succeed Keir Starmer. Andy Burnham could be the new Prime Minister by the end of July.

There was better news on UK borrowing. Yields came down in response to the end of the war in Iran. The two year gilt yield dropped from 4.4% at the start of June to 4.1% at the end of the month. Bank of England governor Andrew Bailey said rate cuts were still “off the table”, but a rate rise now looks far less likely.

In the US, inflationary pressures proved more acute, with the US PCE index rose by 3.8% in the 12 months through April, the largest rise since May 2023. More worrying was that price rises appeared to be spreading from energy prices to other parts of the economy. The US labour market has remained strong, which puts it at greater risk of inflation contagion. The Fed's latest quarterly projections show nine of 19 policymakers anticipate a rate hike by year-end.

Platform investors reflected the broader market indecision in June, with technology funds sitting alongside cash funds in the top 10 best-sellers on the major platforms. AJ Bell investors still picked the AJ Bell ‘Adventurous’ fund, suggesting there was still some investors with a taste for risk. The Polar Capital Global Technology fund and the Legal & General Global Tech Index were both top choices on the Fidelity platform, while the technology focused WS Blue Whale Growth fund was a best-seller on the ii platform.

However, there was also plenty of evidence of risk aversion. Cash funds (Fidelity Cash and Royal London Short Term Money Market fund) were the top selling funds on the Fidelity and ii platforms. This reflects the broader uncertainty about the bull market and whether the AI stocks that have powered it can maintain momentum.

Elsewhere, the Vanguard FTSE Global All Cap Index and Fidelity Index World funds were the only funds to appear on all four platforms. Both funds remain highly weighted towards the ‘Magnificent Seven’ stocks of Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, Meta, Tesla and Alphabet. This part of the market has had a difficult time more recently, underperforming the S&P 500 since the start of the year. AI infrastructure companies such as the semiconductor names have taken up market leadership.

As with last month, the other popular active fund was the Artemis Global Income. This was the only active fund outside technology that made any of the top selling lists. Early signs that emerging markets were finding favour with investors once again were not evident this month. Emerging markets have been volatile, with the Korean and Taiwanese markets particularly lively.

The potential for investing in space captured investors’ imagination this month as SpaceX launched its IPO. Scottish Mortgage has been a major investor in SpaceX since its launch as a private company in 2002. It reaped the benefits as the company went public at a valuation of over $2 trillion. The managers will be hoping Anthropic can pull off a similar trick in its upcoming IPO.

The excitement around SpaceX also fed into popularity for the £459m Seraphim Space Investment Trust, which was a best seller on all four platforms for the second month in a row. The Trust invests in private companies that are exploiting the opportunities in satellite technology. It recently launched a £350m ‘C’ class offer to existing shareholders to capitalise on the ‘space boom’.

Conventional technology trusts were also popular. Polar Capital Technology was a best-seller on all four platforms and the Allianz Technology trust appeared on all platforms except AJ Bell. Nevertheless, the steady-eddie options of City of London and JPMorgan Global Growth & Income continued their long-term run of popularity.

Emerging markets proved more popular among Investment Trust investors than among fund or ETF investors. However, their choices tended to be at the lower risk end. Henderson Far East Income appeared on all but the Fidelity platform. It has a yield of 9.5%, but is less exposed to technology than some of its peers. Schroder Oriental Income was also a popular choice.

Edinburgh Worldwide Trust appeared on the Fidelity platform. The Trust has been in a long-running tussle with activist investor Saba Capital, who replaced the board earlier this year. Nevertheless, the trust continues to be managed by Baillie Gifford and has seen an astonishing run of performance over the past 12 months, rising 68%.

The momentum trades of semiconductors and space exploration were in evidence among ETF investors in June. In spite of the wobbles in the semiconductor trade in the latter half of the month, the VanEck Semiconductor UCITS ETF was the best-selling ETF on the Fidelity platform, with investors hoping it can replicate the 320% gain it has seen over the past three years in future. Semiconductor specialist ETFs were also popular on the Hargreaves Lansdown platform. VanEck Space Innovators ETF is attracting investor attention.

Broader technology ETFs were also popular. The Invesco EQQQ NASDAQ-100 ETF appeared on all four platforms, with the iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector UCITS ETF also popular. Nasdaq was one of the first index providers to include SpaceX, and it joined as one of the largest stocks in the index.

The iShares Physical Gold ETC appeared on all four platforms, in spite of a difficult run for gold. The gold price has been steadily falling since late February, slipping from $5,200 per ounce to its current level of $4,100. The Iran crisis hit prices hard because it raised interest rate expectations. Gold tends to struggle when real interest rates are high: it doesn’t pay an income so the opportunity cost of holding it is higher. There were some signs of a recovery after the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.

S&P 500-focused ETFs remained popular across all platforms. Investors showed a preference for the Dollar version, as the US currency continued its rebound. The two other notable additions were the iShares Global Infrastructure UCITS ETF, State Street SPDR MSCI World Value UCITS ETF and iShares plc Core MSCI Emerging Markets IMI UCITS ETF. This suggests that canny investors were looking for diversification options away from the US AI trade.

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