The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange surged 176 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 19,840 in early trade, today, mainly on the back of a rally in IT stocks, after Infosys posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings. But the Sensex later pared its initial gains, to stand a more modest 40 points, or 0.2 per cent in the green, at 19,703 in afternoon deals, a short while ago.Stock markets in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea had lost between 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent, today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended 0.6 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.