After Monday’s losses, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex today opened almost 70 points higher on fresh buying by funds and retail investors.

The 30-share index rose by 69.82 points to 20,922.20 points on the back of recovery in FMCG, metal and auto sector stocks. The index had lost 152.58 points in the previous session on emergence of profit-booking.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also perked up by 18.50 points to 6,291.70 points.

Analysts said that the trading sentiment turned better on the back of selective buying by funds as well as retail investors.

However, they said that banking stocks were under pressure after the country’s largest lender State Bank of India reported a 22.2 per cent decline in consolidated net profit to Rs 2,437.1 crore for the second quarter ended 30September , over the same period last year.

The share price of State Bank of India fell by 4 per cent to Rs 3,290 on fresh spell of selling.

Meanwhile, in other Asian markets, the Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was marginally down by 0.95 per cent, while Japanese Nikkei shed 0.67 per cent in the morning trade Tuesday. In the US, the Dow Jones Industrial Index ended 0.33 per cent lower Monday.