The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by 125 points to quote at 16,802 in opening trade on Thursday. The Sensex was at 16,747 when reports last came in. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty gained 35 points, to 4,993 points. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 1.75 per cent and Japan's Nikkei was up by 0.91 per cent in the morning trade.