Easing from the day's highs, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange still stood a good 403 points or 2.2 percent in positive territory, at 18,970 in afternoon trade, a short while ago. Earlier in the morning, the Sensex had gained a solid 488 points, to 19,056, on strong buying by funds and retail investors, after the Reserve Bank announced a slew of measures to bolster the financial markets and stabilize the rupee.Stock markets in Japan, Indonesia, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan had gained between 0.1 percent and 1.4 percent, today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended 0.7 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.