Maintaining its four-day bull-run, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose nearly 179 points in opening trade today, riding high on positive sentiment following the various measures adopted by Sebi to encourage SMEs to launch public issues and on firm global cues.

The 30-share BSE Sensex rose by 178.81 points, or 1.1 per cent to 16,677.53 points in opening trade with all sectoral indices trading in positive zone with gains of up to 1.44 per cent. The BSE barometer gathered a hefty 1,093.78 points in the previous four sessions.

The wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty climbed 49.30 points to 4,947.70 points.

Brokers said sentiments on the domestic bourses remained buoyant following market regulator SEBI decision to allow stock exchanges to have separate trading platforms for SMEs and relax the criteria for IPOs and FPOs of all companies.