September top trades: Microsoft bounces back, Apple cools and New Zealanders keep buying

Sharesight investors kept trading the same big names, but how heavily they leaned towards buying depended a lot on where they live.

Same shares, different appetite

Eleven shares made the September top 20 for Australian, New Zealand and global investors. New Zealanders had the highest share of buy trades on every one, while Australians bought the least. Global investors (Sharesight users outside Australia and New Zealand) sat firmly in the middle.

Across those 11 shares, an average of 83.9% of New Zealand trades were buys, compared with 74.9% globally and 68.8% in Australia. Meta had the widest gap: 77.2% buys in New Zealand, 60.9% globally and 50.2% in Australia.

Investors log back into Microsoft

In August, Microsoft (MSFT) saw a big shift to selling, most prominently in Australia. In September, it had the biggest shift towards buying in all three markets:

• Australia: 68.3% buy trades, up from 42.4%
• New Zealand: 90.2% buy trades, up from 71.9%
• Global: 78.2% buy trades, up from 57%

August's selling appeared to follow concerns about Microsoft's spending on data centres, and that spending is still growing. In September, Bloomberg reported Microsoft plans to more than triple its data centre capacity to 38GW by 2032 (here’s DCD’s commentary for non-Bloomberg subscribers). Despite the spend, a Copilot revamp that delivered new coding and agentic tools saw the share price rise 4%.

Apple upgrades, investors don’t

Apple (AAPL) was a big mover in August. In September, it fell from #2 to #12 by number of investors trading. Apple launched the iPhone 18 Pro on 10 September, with prices starting at US$1,199. A few days later, JPMorgan reported shorter delivery wait times than last year, but Apple's share price still reached an all-time high on 23 September. Whether it was softer demand or the high share price, Apple buy trades fell in every market, from 82.7% to 71.5% globally.

Meta finds its Muse as Alphabet spells a comeback

Meta (META) was the one to pay attention to in September. While the proportion of buys was down (50.2% by Australians vs. 74.8% in August, 77.2% vs. 87.5% by New Zealanders, and 60.9% vs. 79.7% for global investors), Meta climbed from #8 to #3 globally by the number of investors trading. The share price jumped more than 11% on 22 September after Muse topped Apple's App Store, and the announcements kept coming with new smart glasses unveiled at Connect 2026.

Over September, Meta’s shares rose 27%, their best month since November 2022, before slipping on reports OpenAI is building a rival assistant.

Alphabet (GOOGL) entered September after a four-month losing streak, its longest since 2015, but began recovering again after it was ruled that Google won't have to sell off part of its advertising technology business. Alphabet Class A climbed from #11 to #5 globally.

Australians shop the ASX sale

A bigger proportion of Australians’ trades were buys in September as the ASX 200 fell 3.16%. Across the top 20 shares, the average cut of buy trades rose from 63.5% to 68.5%. Three shares in August’s top 20 had more sell trades than buy. In September, only one did – CSL.

57.6% of Australian CSL trades were sells for the second month in a row as its share price rose 39.4% in August after its full-year results announcement and another 7.4% in September.

The good old mantra “buy low, sell high” was in play for Australian investors as they bought up four ASX-listed shares that fell in price through September:

• BHP (BHP) climbed from #5 to #2 most traded, with buy trades up from 56.3% to 70.6%. Its share price fell 8.2% over the month, partly because it went ex-dividend on 3 September, and it paid its final dividend of US$0.99 a share on 23 September.
• WiseTech Global (WTC) held at #3, with buy trades up from 56.8% to 71.6%. Its share price fell 19.6% in September, following full-year results on 26 August that forecast 6–10% revenue growth for the year ahead.
• Fortescue (FMG) rose from #6 to #4, with 78.1% buy trades. Its share price fell 7.1%.
• Xero (XRO) entered the top 10 at #6, with 73.9% buy trades. Its share price fell 31.3% in September to its lowest level since 2019, reversing a strong July and August. While Xero didn't release any price-sensitive news, the fall coincided with expectations of another RBA rate rise and a broader sell-off in tech shares.

New Zealanders say buy-buy

Every share in New Zealand investors' top 10 had at least 77% buy trades. Microsoft took the top spot from Rocket Lab (RKLB), which slipped to #2 with 89.8% buy trades.

Infratil (IFT), the only New Zealand-listed company in the top 10, saw buy trades rise from 78.5% to 93.2%. At its investor day on 16 September, Infratil raised its earnings guidance for the year, citing demand for its CDC data centres.

Alphabet's Class C shares climbed nine places to #5 and its Class A shares five places to #6, both with more than 92% buy trades. Including ETFs, New Zealand investors' wider top 20 had no instrument with more sell trades than buy trades. Smart NZ Cash ETF (NZC) flipped from 41.9% buy trades in August to 51.6% in September.

Rankings are based on the number of Sharesight investors trading each share or instrument. Share price changes are based on month-end closing prices. Dates are in Australian Eastern time.

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