Interactive Investor

Top trades on Brexit day

24th June 2016 14:21

Lee Wild from interactive investor

Chaos reigned on Friday as investors reacted quickly to news of 'Leave's' narrow win in the European Union referendum. But it lasted just minutes, and buyers put available cash to work quickly, unable to resist quality companies at multi-year lows.

Early selling and that "bull" counter-attack triggered record volumes at Interactive Investor - but which shares were they trading?

Predictably, Lloyds Banking Group was in demand Friday morning. Banks are tipped to struggle in the event of Brexit, given it will mean an end to so-called "passporting" - a UK bank's right to operate across Europe.

Lloyds traded above 72p for the first time in three weeks yesterday, but began today's session at a fraction below 51p. It's 57p at lunchtime, but there are renewed concerns about the sustainability of a forecast dividend yield, now somewhere around 8%, in an environment where interest rates will likely stay lower for longer.

An 8% slump in BP shares also proved too good to miss. At 355p, shares in the high-yielding oil major were a steal. Insurer Aviva made the top three 'buy' trades after sinking 35% to just 290p. It's still down 16%, but at 372p brave investors could have cleaned up.

Elsewhere, an 83p slump at housebuilder Taylor Wimpey to just 109p grabbed attention. At 145p, the share price is up an incredible 33% from that intraday low. Woodford Patient Capital Trust and CF Woodford Equity Income Fund featured in the top 10 buys.

So did miner Glencore, Barclays, bombed-out Legal & General and Terry Smith's Fundsmith Equity Fund.

Of course, there is some overlap on the list of 'sells'.

Investors decided a 25% rally at Glencore since May was plenty, promoting the shares to top of the most-sold list. A number of Lloyds shareholders decided to cash in too, and at Royal Bank of Scotland whose shares had risen by more than a fifth in the past week.

Taylor Wimpey, Barclays and BP also saw a fair amount of selling.

Other resource plays fell out of favour, too, with Premier Oil, Anglo American, Tullow Oil and Highland Natural Resources suffering heavy selling.

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser