The BSE benchmark Sensex rose by 61 points in early trade today on sustained buying by funds and retail investors mainly in power, capital goods, PSUs, oil and gas and healthcare sector stocks. Rising for the third straight session, the 30-share barometer gained 60 points, to 19,456. In the past two sessions, Sensex has gone up by nearly 844 points. The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty up by 14 points, to 5,856.