The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by almost 125 points in opening trade today amid a firming trend on other Asian bourses. The 30-share barometer, which gained 308 points in the previous session, gathered another 124.77 points, or 0.67 per cent, to 18,644 in the first few minutes of trade today. In a similar manner, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index rose by 35 points, or 0.62 per cent, to 5,586. In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose by 0.89 per cent, while Japan's Nikkei was down 0.35 per cent in morning trade today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.43 per cent higher in the previous session on Friday.