The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex opened higher by 44 points in the opening trade. The sensex was trading at 17440, down by over 22 points. Similarly National Stock Exchange index Nifty lost over 11 points to quote at 5222.Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index opened 0.67 per cent higher, while Japanese Nikkei index lost 0.58 per cent in early trade.