Hargreaves Lansdown sees 557% rise in trading post-Brexit

Hargreaves Lansdown saw a 557 per cent increase in trading last Friday, following the UK's vote to leave the EU.

The platform saw the equivalent of 17.5 years of normal activity on the website in one day, with many investors rushing to buy amid the market volatility and falls.

Data from the platform showed that there was a 381 per cent increase in investors buying sterling, with the volume of sterling equivalent trades up 837 per cent on the day.

BlackRock topped the list of the most bought funds, with investors flocking to the BlackRock Gold & General fund as many sought out safe haven assets such as gold.

However, a number of investors sought to capitalise on weakness in UK equity stocks, with seven of the top 10 funds being UK equity focused.

The Lindsell Train UK Equity, Woodford Equity Income and Fundsmith Equity funds were the top selling active UK equity funds, followed by a host of UK tracker funds.

The HSBC FTSE 250 Index, Legal & General UK Index and Legal & General UK 100 Index Trust funds all saw healthy inflows.

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It was a similar story on the investment trust side, with City Of London Investment Trust, Edinburgh Investment Trust and Finsbury Growth and Income Trust all featuring in the top five most-bought list.

Ian Gorham, chief executive at Hargreaves Lansdown, says: “This was a record day with trading activity especially brisk. Retail investors took to their screens and mobile phones aiming to capitalise from the volatility, with the vast majority of trades being buys.

“It will take time for the results of the vote to play out in full, but I see no reason why both our clients and our business should not continue to prosper, whether inside or outside the EU.”

AJ Bell said it saw a similar rise in trading volumes on Friday, with a five-fold increase in trading in the morning.

Many investors were taking advantage of falling markets, with AJ Bell reporting three-quarters of its day's trading were people buying, rather than selling.

The rise in trading and volatility in markets led to some people being blocked from trading electronically as market makers struggled to get pricing information for some assets, leading to delays.

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