The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Wednesday opened higher by almost 120 points, after Tuesday’s losses, on emergence of fund buying in auto, oil, gas, realty and metal stocks, coupled with a firming trend in the other Asian markets.

The 30-share index rose by 119.90 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 18,091.02 points in the first five minutes of trading.

The Sensex had lost 60.99 points in Tuesday’s volatile session.

Similarly, the broad-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty gained 30.55 points, or 0.55 per cent, to trade at 5,432.95 points.

Brokers said fresh buying by funds and retail investors in select stocks following firming trend in the Asian region boosted the trading sentiment in Mumbai.

Stocks of auto sector were in the limelight ahead of August sales data.

The Japanese Nikkei gained 0.10 per cent, while the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng up by 0.15 per cent in the morning trade on Wednesday, while the US Dow Jones Industrial average ended 0.05 per cent higher on Tuesday.