The Sensex today opened higher by 79 points on buying by funds in blue chips, especially banking and PSU stocks. The 30-share index gained 79 points to trade at 18,153 points in the first five minutes of trading. All the sectoral indices were trading in the positive zone with gains up to 1.15 per cent. Likewise, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shot up by 29 points to 5,446 points. The market sentiments turned bullish after the State Bank of India posted attractive quarterly results.