Driven by firm global markets, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange opened 150 points, 0.8 per cent higher, at 18,356, this morning, on broad-based buying interest. But after paring much of its early gains, the Sensex stood a modest 54 points, or 0.3 per cent in the green, at 18,260, a short while ago. Stock markets Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan, and Singapore were up by between 0.4 percent, and 1.5 percent, on better-than-expected factory data from the US, easing fears of a slow-down in global economic recovery. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had surged 2.5 percent, overnight.