The most popular stocks and funds investors bought in June

The start of this week not only saw the wrapping up of another month of trading but also marked the end of a volatile first half, in which markets were gripped by US president Donald Trump's tariffs and geopolitical conflicts.

The de-escalation in trade tensions between the US and China was one major development this month. After Trump accused China of violating the deal the two countries made in Geneva, June got off to a rocky start with concerns that a trade truce had already faltered.

However, following a phone call between Trump and China's president Xi Jinping, trade representatives met in London and later announced that a framework to move forward had been agreed. Towards the end of June, Trump announced that the US and China had signed a deal.

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As tariff tensions eased, conflict in the Middle East escalated with Israel and Iran launching air strikes as talks with the US over Tehran's nuclear programme appeared to have stalled. Trump announced a US-brokered ceasefire, which Israel later accused Iran of breaking, before the US president intervened again to help re-establish the truce that appears to have held since last week.

The focus has now shifted back to the progress of trade talks between the US and its trading partners, as as the 9 July deadline for the resumption of Trump's “reciprocal” tariffs looms.

In terms of market performance last month, the UK's FTSE 100 (^FTSE) hit a fresh record high on 12 June, closing at 8884.90 points, but then ebbed lower before recovering some ground at the end of the month.

Meanwhile, US markets had a steadier June, before the S&P 500 (^GSPC) and the tech-heavy Nasdaq (^IXIC) notched new record highs at the end of the month.

Here's which stocks proved most popular with investors in June:

Electric vehicle (EV) company Tesla (TSLA) appeared on the most-bought lists of Interactive Investor, Robinhood (HOOD) and AJ Bell (AJB.L).

Despite CEO Elon Musk leaving his role heading up Trump's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the end of May and refocusing his attention back on Tesla, the stock had another rocky month in June and is down more than 25% year-to-date.

Dan Lane, lead analyst at Robinhood UK, said: “The world finally got a look at Tesla’s Model Y in June. Elon Musk praised its ‘FULLY autonomous' capabilities on X, which might have added to investor appetite over the month.

“Tesla is still struggling in China though, with smartphone maker, Xiaomi, adding pressure by joining the EV race.”

Defence stocks remained popular with investors last month, boosted towards the end of the month by NATO allies announcing that they had agreed to increase their defence spending to 5% of their countries' gross domestic product (GDP) by 2035.

FTSE 100-listed (^FTSE) Rolls-Royce (RR.L) was one of the most popular stocks for investors using Interactive Investor and AJ Bell's platforms. In fact, the stock closed the month on a new fresh high and is up more than 64% year-to-date.

Fellow UK defence stock BAE System (BA.L), which is up nearly 60% so far this year, also appeared on Interactive Investor and AJ Bell's lists.

Read more: The key investing trends in June, from defence stocks to Tesla's sales slump

Victoria Scholar, head of investment at Interactive Investor, said: “Engine maker Rolls Royce topped the leaderboard of most bought equities in June on the interactive investor platform, unsurprisingly given its stellar stock market performance.”

“Longer-term Rolls Royce is the best performing stock on the FTSE 100 (^FTSE) over a two-, three- and five-year time period,” she said.

“Both Rolls Royce and BAE Systems … have benefitted from increased UK defence spending this year as prime minister Kier Starmer plans to move the UK to ‘warfighting readiness’,” Scholar added. “BAE has also been a standout stock market winner with shares up by more than 60% over the past six months.”

The second most popular stock on Robinhood's list was Applied Digital (APLD), which designs and operates digital infrastructure.

Shares in Applied Digital are up 38% year-to-date and hit an all-time high earlier in June, after the company announced a $7bn deal with CoreWeave (CRWV), the cloud services provider backed by Nvidia (NVDA).

Applied Digital said that it had entered into two approximately 15-year lease agreements with CoreWeave. Under the agreement, Applied Digital will deliver 250 megawatts of critical IT load to host CoreWeave's AI and high-performing computing (HPC) infrastructure at its Ellendale, North Dakota data centre campus. Applied Digital said it anticipating generating approximately $7bn (£5.1bn) in total revenue from the leases.

Mining stocks also proved popular in June, including minerals exploration and development company Metals One (MET1.L).

Dan Coatsworth, investment analyst at AJ Bell, said: “Metals One was popular with investors looking to ‘buy the dip’.

“The mining company enjoyed a big share price rally in April and May after striking deals to expand in the US via uranium and gold exploration projects. The shares then pulled back sharply, perhaps prompting certain investors to swoop on price weakness in the hope it might rebound again.”

Shares are up 368% year-to-date, with the rally in shares in May seeing the stock hitting its highest point since listing on the UK's alternative investment market (AIM) in August 2023.

Oil major BP (BP.L) also featured on the most popular stocks lists in June for Interactive Investor and AJ Bell (AJB.L).

Interactive Investor's Scholar said: “Not only has the company seen its share price caught up in the oil market’s volatility amid tensions in the Middle East, but it has also been subject to takeover speculation from Shell. However, Shell has denied any acquisition interest in its rival.”

A volatile first half of the year, has left BP shares 3% in the red year-to-date.

Investors' favourite stocks throughout the first six months of the year reflected continued market interest in key themes, such as technology and defence.

While chipmaker Nvidia (NVDA) had a challenging start to the year with the release of DeepSeek's lower cost AI model, followed by Trump's sweeping tariffs and controls on sales of its H20 chips to China.

However, the stock has since seen a marked turnaround, with Nvidia posting strong first quarter results in May, showing the company continued to perform despite the export curbs on its chips to China.

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Ahead of those results, Nvidia also announced deals with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to supply them with hundreds of thousands of its AI chips.

AJ Bell's Coatsworth said: “Nvidia might have been caught up in the global market sell-off in April, but plenty of investors still have faith in the AI story. Their patience has been rewarded after the shares hit a new record high during June.”

UK financial stocks also proved popular, with Legal & General (LGEN.L), Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) and HSBC (HSBA.L), featuring on the lists.

Despite volatility, investors continued to put money into US and global passive funds in June, giving them exposure to some of the world's biggest companies, such as the “Magnificent 7” tech behemoths.

At the same time, Victoria Hasler, head of fund research at Hargreaves Lansdown, said: “The turbulence that we saw in the second quarter of the year has tempted some investors back into active funds, trusting active managers to navigate the volatility on their behalf.

“There were three active funds in the top ten list for June — all three are global equity funds, and all three well-established funds with proven track records. In this environment it seems that investors prefer to stick with the funds they know and trust.”

Exposure to US and global markets, particularly through passive funds, was a dominant theme in throughout the first half of the year.

Jason Hollands, managing director at Bestinvest by Evelyn Partners, said: Given the relatively poor performance of US equities in the first half of the year, with the fallout from Donald Trump’s tariff war and a plunging US dollar, it is notable that despite this four of the top ten fund purchases on Bestinvest were US equities funds.

“There were no European funds present in the top ten, despite a much stronger start to the year,” he said. “It is pleasingly to see a solitary UK equity fund in the top 10, Artemis UK Select (0P0000V25A.L), which is one of our top fund picks. It’s a best ideas fund that backs undervalued growth companies.”

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