Benchmark equity indices Sensex and Nifty on Monday finished trading at all-time closing highs tracking global markets and on hopes of ease in visa-related policies in the United States. The 30-share BSE Sensex rose 704.37 points, or 1.68% to close at 42,597.43. The broader 50-share NSE Nifty was up 1.61% at 12,461.05, at the closing bell.

In Monday’s intra-day trading, Sensex and Nifty touched all-time highs of 42,645.33 and 12,474.05, respectively. All sectoral indices closed trading in the green with Nifty Bank and Nifty Financial Services gaining the most at 2.74% and 2.05%, respectively. The IT sub-index also gained more than 1.50%.

The surge came on back of a policy document released by US’ President-elect Joe Biden’s campaign detailing on his plans to increase the number of high-skilled visas, including the H-1B, and eliminate the limit on employment-based visas by the country.

“This policy will help the many Indian IT employees working overseas,” Anita Gandhi, Director at Mumbai-based Arihant Capital Markets told Reuters.

“Investors are hopeful that a split in Washington would likely thwart major tax increases on large companies as well as other sweeping policies feared by investors,” analysts at HDFC Securities said in a note, Mint reported.

Asian shares and US futures also rose on Monday as the uncertainty over the political situation in US cleared over the weekend.

Divis Labs, IndusInd Bank, Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank were among major gainers on the Nifty.