Tech and Tesla lead the way

Technology and electric vehicles reigned supreme among global equities in 2020 as Saxo Bank’s most traded stocks.

Tesla was the most traded stock and it’s easy to see why: it returned a whopping 646% for the year to December 15. It was followed by Apple, Nio (known as China’s Tesla), Microsoft and Amazon.

Tech was the leading sector, the beneficiary of lockdowns imposed in response to the pandemic. Reflecting this, the Nasdaq-100 ended the year up more than 40%.

“This year was all about the online vs offline world as technology companies were catapulted into the future by the Covid-19 pandemic while many physical industries such as aviation, travel, leisure, hospitality and automobiles came under significant pressure due to the severe restrictions and lockdowns,” says Peter Garnry, Saxo Bank’s head of equities.

“2020 will also be remembered for the rise of Tesla as its market value surged 646%, reaching a market value of $US590 billion and ending the year as the biggest stock inclusion in the history of the S&P 500 Index. Part of the Tesla story was the increase in EV sales globally despite the pandemic and the rise of ‘green transformation’ stocks highlighting a powerful new theme in financial markets.”

Among Saxo Bank’s Australian customers, Afterpay was its most traded stock, followed by long-time market darling CSL, then Tesla, Flight Centre and ANZ.