Banking, infra schemes made the most money last month

They offered returns in excess of 6% beating all other equity categories

Equity mutual fund schemes in the banking and infrastructure sectors have made the most money for investors in the past month. During a period when world stock markets remained volatile amid unfolding of the 'Brexit' event, these schemes offered returns in excess of six per cent.

At a time when the benchmark indices on the two major stock exchanges, Sensex and Nifty, could register a gain of a little less than two per cent, these schemes -- primarily investing in banking and infrastructure stocks — emerged as the top gainers in the equity segment.

Birla Sun Life Banking & Financial Services Fund beat its category and gave a 7.3 per cent monthly return. ICICI Prudential Banking and Financial Services Fund did much better, with 9.3 per cent. Other schemes in the banking category include Reliance Banking Fund, UTI Financial Sector Fund and Invesco India Banking Fund.

Heavyweight stocks in the public bank space like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda and Punjab National Bank have gained between 10 per cent and as much as 45 per cent. Shares of private banks remained flat, though moving up swiftly in the last few sessions. The BSE Bankex was up three per cent in the period. The category average monthly return of infrastructure equity schemes was 6.2 per cent. The sector hasn't done well for the past couple of years but helped schemes having exposure to infra stocks. For instance, Birla Sun Life Infrastructure Fund offered investors a return of 6.4 per cent; Canara Robeco Infrastructure Fund made 6.2 per cent.

The only category which could beat the banking and infrastructure schemes were gold funds. The Brexit and other turmoil led to a sudden increase in gold prices and gold funds as a category gave an average return of 7.49 per cent.