As the Asian markets firmed up in tandem with the recovery in the US markets last Friday, the Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Monday opened higher by over 218 points on widespread buying by funds.

In the first five minutes of trading the 30-share index, which had lost 227.94 points in the previous session, shot up by 1.2 percent, that’s 218.09 points to 18,216.50 points. With a gain up to 2.01 per cent, all the sectoral indices were trading in positive zone. When it gained 60.30 points to trade at 5,469.00 points the broad based National Stock Exchange Nifty also rose by 1.1 per cent.

Broker said, firm trends in the Asian region followed by the fresh buying by retail stock investors and funds, which is primarily in the metals and realty sectors. Meanwhile the Japanese Nikkei gained 1.61 per cent in the morning trade on Monday while the Hong Kong’s Seng index was up by 0.92 per cent.