KARACHI: After days of uncertainty in the market owing to the political deadlock in Islamabad, the Karachi Stock Exchange 100 index finally acquired a considerable degree of confidence with an increase of 1002 points to 28,756 at the start of trading.

Business of shares worth some Rs50 million shares was done since trading began.

Investors have attributed the positive sentiment in trading to the series of events that transpired in Islamabad late on Thursday and early Friday.

The deadlock which began with the marches and subsequent sit-ins by activists and supporters of Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) and Pakistan Awami Tehreek (PAT) finally seemed to near a definitive phase when heads of the two parties held meetings with Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif.

Both parties still persist on their demand of a resignation from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with the PAT also calling for Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif as its principal demand.

Pakistan's economic outlook had improved since the government of business-friendly Nawaz Sharif came to power with foreign exchange reserves having doubled from $7 billion to $14 billion but the market in recent days had shown much unease with the protests led by Imran Khan and Dr Tahirul Qadri.

Earlier in July, ratings agency Moody's had also upgraded Pakistan's country outlook to 'stable' from 'negative' citing its improving external liquidity position and commitment to reforms.

— Talqeen Zuberi contributed to reporting