Top Stocks: Local miners rise in Q2, but it's all about AI and megatech

Nvidia does Apple to become eToro’s no. 2 most-held stock in Australia
Mega tech (ie: Nvidia, Intel and Microsoft) among nation’s top stock risers
BHP, Core Lithium and Pilbara Minerals also among the top 20 risers for Q2

There’s been movement at the station when it comes to equity investing across Australia, but while there’s a little more interest in ASX miners, Aussie retail investors continue to back Nvidia and big tech to the hilt.

That’s according to the latest quarterly equity investing data pulled from the servers of global trading and investing platform eToro.

eToro’s latest quarterly insights reveal a fair bit about the stocks we’re loving and the stocks we’re avoiding with eToro tracking which companies saw the biggest proportionate change in holders, quarter-on-quarter, and the 10 most held stocks on the platform in Australia.

Stocks most widely held by eToro users in Australia and their position last quarter

eToro says there’ve been heaps of shifts among the most held stocks since last quarter.

Chip champ Nvidia has found some time from its usual surge to surge into second-most popular stock on the eToro platform in Australia, overtaking Apple and sitting just behind Tesla.

Tesla holders will be thrilled with the 27% surge over at Tesla last week, as well.

Meanwhile, the bottom half of the top 10 experienced a few shifts with Facebook-owning Meta overtaking the US-listed Chinese car manufacturer Nio Inc. to become the sixth most popular stock in Australia.

Ladies and gents. Gamestop moved up into ninth place, overtaking Alibaba.

Gamestop-owners surged 18% this quarter, according to eToro’s Sydney man, Josh Gilbert.

This comes as little surprise after the stock’s shares rose sharply in early June following notorious financial analyst Keith “Roaring Kitty” Gill’s return to Reddit, during which he made a few non-sensible posts about the company on /r/wallstreetbets.

While Nvidia continues to dominate AI news, other firms in the space are also attracting attention from investors, as indicated by several businesses with lofty AI ambitions featuring on the ‘top risers’ list.

This includes Intel (+17 per cent), which announced snazzy new AI chips during the mega -sized Computex tech conference in Taipei last month.

And it also features Mnsr Microsoft (+6%), which recently won plaudits after releasing its AI Copilot Plus PCs. Which is an AI thing.

All the Chips not in China

Semiconductor manufacturers are also featured among the top risers in Australia.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd was the second largest riser for the quarter (+25%), and the number of Aussie holders in Advanced Micro Devices rose 16 per cent. Aussie retail investors’ interest in mining companies was also notable.

Mining giant BHP delivered a 24% increase in holders for Q2, while Core Lithium and Pilbara Minerals sit among the top 20 stock risers – seeing an 8% and 5% increase in holders, respectively.

Josh G says retail investors continued to flock to AI stocks in the second quarter of 2024.

“Businesses like Nvidia and TSMC continue to reap the rewards of the biggest technology revolution we’ve seen for decades.

“We’re unlikely to see this investor migration to AI stocks ease up anytime soon, as these stocks continue to deliver huge profits quarter after quarter, and other AI winners are sure to emerge in the years ahead.”

The China syndrome

The ‘top fallers’ list in Q2 indicate Aussie eToro users are continuing to lose faith in Chinese equities.

Most particularly in Prosus NV (-10%), a major shareholder in Chinese tech firm Tencent.

This investor exodus continues from Q1, and Q4 2023 when the company saw a 16%drop in Aussie holders over two consecutive quarters following news of new Chinese regulations announced last December that intend to curb spending on video games.

Another company that saw a significant QoQ fall was Moderna (-10%).

However, investor sentiment may shift next quarter following news that the company is in the early stages of developing a vaccine for the bird flu, a current concern for Australia’s egg supply, Josh told Stockhead.

“We’ve also seen investors flock back to local miner BHP as the downturn in China’s real estate sector shows signs of slowing as the government continues to offer support to the sector.

“There is clearly still a long way to go for China’s economy, but with iron ore prices rising in recent months, investors are seeing the weakness in BHP shares this year as an opportunity. ”