The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex rose by 134 points in opening trade today, extending on Wednesday's gains on continued buying by funds and retail investors, tracking a firming trend in the global markets. The 30-share index which had gained 242 points in on Wednesday's choppy trade moved up 0.80 per cent, to 16.843 in opening trade. In a similar fashion, the wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty index rose by 49.80 points, or 0.99 per cent, to 5,062. In the Asian region, Japan's Nikkei index was trading 1.74 per cent higher, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved up by 0.41 per cent in early trade on Thursday. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.27 per cent higher in on Thursday's trade.