The appreciating rupee and mixed leads from other Asian markets too influenced sentiment, traders said.
The 30-share index was trading 74.04 points or 0.18 per cent higher at 40,313.92 in morning trade. The broader Nifty was trading 29.50 points or 0.25 per cent up at 11,886.30.
In the Sensex kitty, ICICI Bank emerged as the biggest gainer with 0.88 per cent rise, followed by M&M, ITC, Bajaj Finance, TCS, Tata Steel, NTPC, L&T, and HDFC.
On the other hand, Yes Bank continued to bleed with a steep 4.45 per cent fall among the losers. Other laggards include, SBI, HUL, PowerGrid, Reliance, Bharti Airtel, Vedants and HeroMotoCorp, declining up to 0.94 per cent.
In the previous session, the 30-share gauge closed 247.55 points or 0.61 per cent lower at 40,239.88. On similar lines, the 50-scrip NSE Nifty fell 80.70 points or 0.68 per cent to finish at 11,856.80.
On Tuesday, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) emerged as net sellers in the capital market, offloading Rs 366.79 crore, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth Rs 338.40 crore, data available with stock exchange showed.
Market sentiment turned positive after global crude prices eased further, traders said.
Brent futures, the global oil benchmark, fell 0.71 per cent to USD 63.88 per barrel.
Meanwhile, the rupee appreciated by 8 paise to 70.84 in morning session.
In early trade, Hong Kong gained 0.25 per cent, Shanghai inched up 0.10 per cent, while Tokyo and Shenzhen were trading in red.
Singapore and Seoul surged up to 1.35 per cent in morning trade.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones closed 0.1 per cent lower at 27,881.72. BAL BAL BAL