Maintaining its four-day bull-run, the BSE benchmark Sensex rose nearly 179 points in opening trade on Tuesday, 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.