You may have come across our weekly column where the Motley Fool looks at the most bought and sold international shares that ASX investors are trading.
Well, today we're looking at the shares ASX investors were holding across the 3-month period that's just passed, the quarter ending 30 June. The data comes from the global broker and investing platform eToro.
Here are the top 10 most popular shares from around the world that Aussies were holding last quarter:
| Rank | Stock | Rank from previous quarter | Rank from June quarter 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tesla Inc (NASDAQ: TSLA) | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | Nio Inc (NYSE: NIO) | 2 | 9 |
| 3 | GameStop Corp (NYSE: GME) | 3 | 259 |
| 4 | Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) | 4 | 1 |
| 5 | Palantir Technologies Inc (NYSE: PLTR) | 5 | N/A |
| 6 | Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) | 6 | 4 |
| 7 | BioNano Genomics Inc (NASDAQ: BNGO) | 7 | N/A |
| 8 | Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) | 10 | 6 |
| 9 | AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc (NYSE: AMC) | N/A | N/A |
| 10 | Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE: BABA) | 9 | 17 |
Tesla and Nio shares win the ASX race
First off, it's worth noting eToro also gave us the most popular shares its global investor base were holding over the quarter as well. But interestingly, the list was almost identical to what Aussie investors were holding. The only exception was a preference for cryptocurrency brokerage company Coinbase Global Inc (NASDAQ: COIN) in the place of AMC.
But what is immediately obvious is the dominance of electric vehicle and battery manufacturers in Tesla and Nio.
Tesla is of course the US company helmed by Elon Musk. After a breathtakingly successful share price run over 2019 and 2020, Tesla shares have stalled somewhat in 2021, and are currently down 7.1% year to date. That hasn't stopped Aussie investors from showing their commitment to the company though, it seems.
Nio's fortunes have been remarkably similar to those of Tesla's. Although it is listed in the US, Nio is a Chinese company that is sometimes called the 'Tesla of China'. Like Tesla, Nio had a 2020 to remember, but is also slightly down in 2021 so far (albeit up 52% since 14 May).
Here's what eToro market analyst Josh Gilbert had to say on the dominance of Tesla and Nio:
Tesla and Nio have been the two most prominent stocks for Australian investors over the last six months. We can see that Australian investors are adapting to a long-term buy-and-hold strategy with both these assets, anticipating that the EV space will dominate the automotive industry for many years to come. Tesla has slightly more skin in the game than Nio, and that's why Australian Investors are opting for Tesla shares right now.
Blue chips and meme stocks also popular
In terms of the other popular shares we see above, there seems to be a healthy mix of US blue-chip tech companies such as Apple, Amazon and Microsoft (and the Chinese tech giant Alibaba), as well as some high-growth and (dare we say) 'meme stock' plays in companies such as GameStop, Palantir and AMC.
It's likely not too many investors would have even heard of AMC or GameStop before 2021. We can see this in GameStop's startling rise from placing 259 this time last year and placing 3 last quarter.
AMC wasn't even on last year's list. But the share price insanity we have seen across these companies in various phases through 2021 has certainly put these two names on the map.
Fuelled by social media-driven short squeezes and momentum trades, AMC and GameStop both saw incredible share price appreciation in just a matter of days at various points this year. Aussies have evidently been very excited to try their hands at this type of trading.
In contrast, the dominance of Apple, Microsoft, and Amazon is clear. They were at the top of this list last year, and nothing much has changed.
