The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rallied 178 points, or 1 per cent, to 17,230, this morning, on fresh buying by funds and retail investors at lower levels, amid firm regional bourses. Later, after paring much of its initial gains, the Sensex again jumped in afternoon trade, and stood a good 228 points, or 1.3 per cent in the green, at 17,281, a short while ago.Other Asian markets in Japan, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan were up by between 0.6 percent and 2.4 percent, today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 1.2 per cent, overnight. Global stocks rose after US central bank chairman Ben Bernanke said easy monetary policy would remain in place for some time, even though the US economy has shown signs of improvement