Sensex 33 pts up on selective buying

The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by almost 33 points in opening trade on Thursday, on fresh buying by funds and retail investors in oil and gas and realty sector stocks.

However, a weakening trend on other Asian bourses restricted the gains.

The 30-share barometer, which lost 101.33 points in Wednesday's trade, recovered by 32.64 points, or 0.17 per cent, to 18,426.93 in the first few minutes of trade on Thursday.

In a similar manner, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index rose by 6.80 points to 5,533.65 points.

Brokers said the emergence of buying, though selective, by funds and retail investors helped the trading sentiment improve, but a subdued trend on other Asian bourses in line with overnight losses in the US market capped the gains.

Meanwhile, in the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was down by 0.