The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 122 points, or 0.6 per cent, to 19,487 in early trade, this morning, on sustained buying by investors, on optimism that the Reserve Bank will ease monetary policy next month, and amid positive Asian bourses. Later, the Sensex remained firm, and stood 93 points, or 0.5 per cent in the green, at 19,458 in afternoon deals, a short while ago.Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan were up by between 0.1 percent and 1.7 percent, today, with investor sentiment lifted by fresh signs of progress on a compromise solution to avert the fiscal cliff in the US. Wall Street's Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended 0.9 per cent higher yesterday.