The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex maintained its upward march and gained 173 points in early trade on Friday on sustained buying by funds.
HT ImageThe 30-share Sensex, which gained 65 points on Thursday, added another 173.06 points to touch 19,177.32 in the first five minutes of trade.
The second wide-based National Stock Exchange index, Nifty, also gained 70.85 to 5,705.45 points.
Trading sentiment was mainly boosted by reports of firm global trend.