Maintaining the upward trend, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange was trading 31 points in the positive territory at 17,364, in noon trade. The 30-share barometer rose by 52 points in opening trade to trade today at 17,385, largely on expectation of a rate cut next week, amid a firming trend in global markets.In a similar fashion, the wide-based NSE index Nifty was trading 16 points in the green at 5,293.In Asia, the Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 1.53 per cent, while the Japan's Nikkei index was up by 1.40 per cent.