Buoyed by a firming trend on other Asian bourses, the BSE benchmark rose by almost 59 points in early trade today. The 30-share BSE index, which had gained 215 points in the previous session, rose further by 59 points, to 17,472 with stocks of IT, healthcare andconsumer durables leading the rise.The wide-based National Stock Exchange Nifty Index moved up by 8 points to 5,291 points.In the Asian region, Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index rose by 0.18 per cent and Japan's Nikkei Index by 0.60 per cent in morning trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.16 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.