The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange jumped 198 points, or 1.2 per cent, to 16,388 in early trade this morning on sustained buying by funds and retail investors, buoyed by the easing inflation and firm Asian bourses. Later, buying activity picked up further and the stock exchange gained even more ground to stand a solid 291 points—or 1.8 percent in positive territory—at 16,481 in afternoon deals. Elsewhere, key stock indices in Japan, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Indonesia and South Korea were up by between 0.9 per cent and 1.9 per cent today after data showed that the Chinese economy grew at a faster-than-expected pace in the fourth quarter of 2011.