Protection stocks offer opportunity; opt for insurance and gold finance cos

Quality stocks in banking and financial services sector are still available at attractive valuations

From this calendar year’s high of 32,444 touched on January 2, the Nifty Bank Index fell a steep 47.9 per cent to 16,918 on March 23. It has recovered 29.8 per cent from that low point. Banking and financial services funds, too, have bounced back 15.8 per cent on average over the past three months.

Several factors are responsible for this recovery in the banking and financial sector. One, the massive injection of liquidity by global central banks has sparked global rally. This has lifted Indian stocks as well. Foreign institutional investors pumped in Rs 23,289.9 crore into Indian equities