The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex on Friday soared by 208 points in opening trade on continued buying by funds, driven mainly by firming global trends after a better-than-expected US economic data.

The 30-share BSE index shot up by 208.47 points to 16,272.37 in opening trade as all the sectoral indices were trading in positive zone with gains up to 3.22 per cent. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty also gained 65.50 points to trade higher at 4,831.05.