Extending Thursday's gains, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 164 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 18,208 in opening trade, today, on continued buying interest, in line with firm regional bourses. Gaining further, the Sensex stood a good 224 points or 1.2 percent in positive territory, at 18,269, in afternoon deals, a short while ago. Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan were up between 0.1 percent and 1 percent, today. The US Dow Jones Industrial average had ended 0.1 per cent higher, overnight.