Trading volumes three times higher than normal following shock US election result

Trading activity is three times higher than normal at investment platform AJ Bell Youinvest this morning as retail investors react to the shock victory of Donald Trump in the US presidential election.
9 November 2016

The high volumes are not quite as dramatic as seen following the Brexit vote when they were five times normal volumes.

So far there have been slightly more buyers than sellers. This perhaps explains why the early reaction of the UK markets is relatively muted.

The most bought stocks via www.youinvest.co.uk this morning have been:

1

Sainsbury’s

2

Lloyds

3

Marks & Spencer

4

Legal & General

5

Randgold Resources

6

Fresnillo

7

Boohoo.com

8

Barclays

9

Glencore

10

Sirius Minerals

Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell comments:

“Early indications are that the brave are slightly outnumbering the fearful with slightly more retail investors buying than selling. It will be interesting to see if this changes when the US market opens this afternoon.

“Healthcare and gold stocks have been among the few stock market winners of a Donald Trump victory in the US presidential election but overall the market reaction has been muted so far.

“Markets are also pricing a lower chance of a Federal Reserve interest rate increase in December following the election outcome, staving off a harsher market reaction.

“Gold miners dominated the leaderboard of rising stocks on the UK market. Sixteen of the top 20 risers on London's Main Market and AIM were gold stocks in the first 15 minutes of trading this morning.

“Fresnillo and Randgold Resources were the biggest gainers as gold prices gained 2% to $1,303 (£1,048) an ounce.

“Specialty drugs play Shire jumped 5% and UK healthcare national champions GlaxoSmithKline and Astrazeneca perked up around 2% each because Hillary Clinton’s stance on health care was seen as a potential negative for the sector.

“Other notable gainers included construction plays CRH, Ashtead and Hill & Smith which all rose sharply amid hopes that Trump will make good on his promise to launch a major infrastructure investment programme in the USA, to rejuvenate the country’s airports, roads and bridges.

“The UK's largest defence contractor BAE Systems was another early winner reflecting Trump's commitment to defence spending and a potentially more uncertain geo-political backdrop.

“On the downside, financials were among the bigger losers on the back of the election result and pushed the FTSE 100 around 1% lower.

“HSBC (HSBA), the UK’s largest-listed lender, was the biggest drag on the UK blue chip benchmark, down 2.3% at 605p, as financial stocks across Europe struggle. In Frankfurt, Deutsche Bank sheds another 4%, while Italy’s struggling Banca Monte Paschi dipped almost 10%.

“The market has also put a question mark over the BAT – Reynolds tie up, concerned that British American Tabaco’s big money acquisition of US peer Reynolds American will attract further scrutiny under the Republican president.  BAT was off 1.5% at £45.08.”

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