At the stock markets, after a strong opening, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange remained firm, and had climbed 153 points, or 0.5 percent, to 31,864 a short while ago. The Nifty at the National Stock Exchange had gained 47 points, to 9,874.Other key regional bourses in Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore had advanced between 0.1 percent and 1.4 percent. And at the forex market, the rupee was unchanged, at 64.33 against the dollar in afternoon deals.