Mumbai,   Optimism over the vaccine front against the novel Coronavirus and the continued flow of foreign funds have boosted the Indian stock market, as on Tuesday the Nifty50 crossed the 13,000 mark for the first time.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange touched an all-time high of 13,048.75 points on Tuesday, and the BSE Sensex hit a record high of 44,499.62 points.

Healthy buying in auto, banking and finance stocks supported the indices.

Optimism has been fueled in the global markets after the recent series of positive announcements on the vaccine front.

AstraZeneca on Monday announced Monday that positive high-level results from an interim analysis of clinical trials of the Covid-19 vaccine candidate in the UK and Brazil showed it was highly effective in preventing the disease, the primary endpoint, and no hospitalisations or severe cases of the disease were reported in participants receiving the vaccine.

One dosing regimen showed vaccine efficacy of 90 per cent when 'AZD1222' was given as a half dose, followed by a full dose at least one month apart, and another dosing regimen showed 62 per cent efficacy when given as two full doses at least one month apart. The combined analysis from both dosing regimens resulted in an average efficacy of 70 per cent.

All results were statistically significant. More data will continue to accumulate and additional analysis will be conducted, refining the efficacy reading and establishing the duration of protection.

Earlier Pfizer and Moderna had reported their vaccines of being highly effecting.

At 12.27 p.m., Sensex was at 44,402.66, higher by 325.51 points or 0.74 per cent from its previous close of 44,077.15.

It opened at 44,341.19 and has so far recorded an intra-day low of 44,247.12 points.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Axis Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra and Maruti Suzuki India, while the major losers were Bharti Airtel, HDFC and IndusInd Bank.

Nifty was trading at 13,026.10, higher by 99.65 points or 0.77 per cent from its previous close.