LAHORE -  The investors turned to profit taking on Wednesday with benchmark index shedding 162 points, down 0.4 percent to 43,353 points level as market paid heeds to recent political developments.

The media reports that the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) has requested the Ministry of Interior to place names of former prime minister Nawaz Sharif, his daughter Maryam Nawaz and son-in-law capt (R) Safdar on the Exit Control List (ECL) as the Sharif family is facing three NAB references and an increasing pressure on foreign exchange have pushed the investors to turn to profit taking.

Sector wise data indicates that Cement eroded 112 points from the index, followed by Oil & Gas Marketing and Fertilizer sectors that cumulatively took away 101 index points.

Trading volumes improved by 2 percent whereas the trading session was up 3 percent.

Stocks including LUCK (-2.4 percent), DGKC (-4.2 percent), SEARL (-3.9 percent), SNGP (-2.9 percent) & PSO (-2 percent) withheld 129 points from the index whereas stocks including HBL (+3.4 percent), UBL (+1.8 percent), MCB (+0.2 percent), JLICL (+3.4 percent) & ABL (+0.9 percent) added 146 points to the index gain.

On Wednesday, Board of Directors of Meezan Bank approved to raise Additional Tier I capital through issuance of capital, in form of Additional Tier 1 Sukkuk up to the extent of Rs7 billion.

Moreover, the EFU General Insurance has also announced 2017 financial results reporting earnings of Rs2.3b (EPS Rs11.7), flat on YoY basis.