The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange spurted 218 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 18,217, in early trade this morning in line with firm global markets. The Sensex later gave up much of its early gains, but still stood 90 points, or 0.5 per cent in the green, at 18,089, a short while ago. Other Asian markets in Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia, South Korea and Taiwan were up by between 1.7 per cent and 0.2 per cent today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 1.7 per cent on last Friday.