The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) dropped 2.5% over the course of last week. At the time of writing on early Tuesday morning, however, the index is trading 0.37% higher. Over the month, the index is still down 5.51%.
Here's what investors have been buying.
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Most-traded share on the ASX last week
Droneshield Ltd (ASX: DRO) shares continued their downward tumble last week, but the company continues to be in favour with investors. New data from CommSec shows that between the 17th and 21st of November, the most commonly traded Australian share by clients, based on contract note volumes either bought or sold weekly, is still the AI-drone operator. Around 60% of trading activity was buying, and the remaining 40% was selling activity.
Droneshield's shares closed just over 2% higher at $1.74 each on Monday afternoon. But the stock has plummeted 73.6% since peaking in early October.
The company has come under enormous pressure recently following a number of announcements and media speculation that its sales could be affected by the rise of drones using fibre optic technology. On Wednesday last week, the company said Matt McCrann, who joined the company in 2019 and who had been the US CEO since 2022, "has resigned from the business, effective immediately". There was no explanation for his departure.
The company also responded to an ASX Aware Letter this week. Droneshield was asked to explain recent share sales and the accidental release, and retraction, of a $7.6 million contract mistakenly announced as new.
The share price also crashed earlier this month following news that CEO Oleg Vornik had sold $49.47 million worth of shares in the company, with several other directors also offloading sizable shareholdings.
Analysts are still optimistic about an upside ahead for the ASX company and its shares. Just yesterday, investment advisory and portfolio management company, MPC Markets, named DroneShield shares as a buy, and said that the stock is now trading at a "reasonable price".
What other Australian shares were investors interested in?
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS) was the second most-traded ASX share last week, although 60% of activity was selling. The miner's shares fell 1.52% throughout the week. Blackwattle portfolio managers, Tim Riordan and Michael Teran, said that Pilbara Minerals is the lithium star of the ASX right now. In their latest bulletin, Riordan and Teran said the market's largest pure-play lithium share has "material upside" ahead.
Third on CommSec's list are Commonwealth Bank of Australia (ASX: CBA) shares. Around 72% of their activity throughout the week was from buyers. These investors were likely taking advantage of the banking giant's share price plunge earlier this month. CBA's share price plummeted over 15.3% between 6th November and Wednesday last week. Analysts and investors are unimpressed with the bank's latest quarterly update.
There was also a flurry of buying activity from CommSec clients in Core Lithium Ltd (ASX: CXO), WiseTech Global Ltd (ASX: WTC), Liontown Resources Ltd (ASX: LTR), and BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP).
Investors were also interested in buying CSL Ltd (ASX: CSL), Macquarie Group Ltd (ASX: MQG), and Zip Co Ltd (ASX: ZIP) shares throughout the week.
