The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange opened a strong 154 points, or 0.7 per cent higher, at 20,663, on the first trading day of the New year, Monday morning, on continued buying by foreign funds and retail investors, tracking firm Asian bourses. After paring some of its initial gains, the Sensex later stood 99 points, or 0.5 percent in the green, at 20,608, in afternoon deals, a short while ago. Other Asian bourses also kicked off the year with a healthy start, on hopes that the global economic recovery will continue in 2011. The key benchmark indices in Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan rose by between 0.5 percent, and 1.5 percent.