Revealed! The 10 stocks most traded by investors trading in Irish markets in 2022

Volatile stock markets have led to a high level of share trading in 2022. Some investors may be looking to make gains while others are capitalising by buying stocks at reduced prices. Ahead of St. Patrick’s Day, Saxo Markets has released a list of the most-traded Irish stocks, in addition to the most-traded global stocks by Irish investors.

Let’s take a closer look at this trading data to see what we can learn about investing trends in the current market downturn.

The 10 most-traded stocks

These are the 10 most-traded stocks by Irish clients of Saxo Markets so far in 2022:

What insight does this provide into Irish investors’ trading strategies in 2022? Well, there’s a heavy bias towards technology firms. This isn’t surprising given that high inflation and rising interest rates have recently taken their toll on the valuations of high-growth companies.

The share prices of Apple, Microsoft and Intel have all fallen by around 15% in 2022. And Meta’s share price has suffered the largest hit, dropping by over 40%. This may have tempted investors into buying technology stocks at reduced prices.

Similarly, Alibaba’s share price has fallen by over 40% in 2022. Reuters recently reported that “China’s biggest e-commerce company could ultimately axe more than 15% of its total workforce,” to “try to cope with China’s sweeping regulatory crackdown.”

Overall, heavy trading in these companies may be due to investors selling and moving into more defensive stocks over fears of a recession. Equally, the depressed share prices may be tempting investors to buy growth stocks hoping for a recovery over the longer term.

What are the 10 most-traded Irish companies?

According to Saxo Markets, these were the most-traded Irish companies by their global trading clients on the Euronext Dublin and Growth exchanges in 2022:

So what can we learn about the top three most-traded Irish stocks?

1. Ryanair

Ryanair takes the number one spot in terms of highest trading in the year to date. It’s been a difficult few years for airlines with Covid-19-related travel restrictions and rising fuel prices.

Yet Ryanair has “seemingly navigated the turbulence with greater ease,” according to Freetrade analyst Gemma Boothroyd. She highlights that it was “almost at pre-pandemic passenger levels by the end of last year. And for a while, Ryanair’s share price was substantially above its 2019 price too.”

However, Ryanair’s share price has fallen by over 30% in the last month due to concerns over the war in Ukraine and another hike in oil prices. That said, the Financial Times reports that Ryanair has hedged over 80% of its fuel needs for the next year. This should help it to be price-competitive against other low-cost airlines.

2. Bank of Ireland

Shareholders buying Bank of Ireland shares in early 2020 would have enjoyed a 290% rise in their share price up until a month ago. In 2021, it posted its highest profit in a decade, along with a €104 million (£87 million) return to shareholders.

Although rising interest rates are generally positive for the profitability of a bank, Edmond Jackson from Interactive Investor points out that “financial stocks are inherently sensitive to major market moves”. As a result, Bank of Ireland’s share price has fallen by nearly 15% from its peak since the war in Ukraine.

Investors may also have been prompted into trading their shares after Bank of Ireland’s deal to buy €9 billion (£7.6 million) of KBC’s loans recently hit a stumbling block with the competition authorities.

3. Kingspan Group

Building materials provider Kingspan has also rewarded investors with a 74% rise in its share price over the last two years. It’s battled high inflation in raw material prices to deliver a near 50% increase in profit after tax in 2021, according to Proactive Investors.

However, with its share price falling by 18% in the last few weeks and the difficult economic backdrop, investors may be trading their shares to cash in gains.

Take away

This data shows a general trend towards trading in stocks that have delivered strong share price growth over the last few years. Investors may be looking to take gains or they might be buying shares at lower prices with the potential of future upside over the longer term.

Whatever shares you’re looking to buy or sell, it’s worth taking the time to carefully choose your broker. To help you, our experts have compiled a list of top-rated share dealing accounts.