Mumbai, Dec 30 (IANS): A day after the cabinet passed an ordinance to amend the land acquisition act, a benchmark index of the Indian equities markets traded flat and was down 68 points or 0.25 percent in the afternoon trade session Tuesday.

The 30-scrip Sensitive Index (Sensex) of the S&P Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) had gained 154 points Monday on back of hopes of further reforms.

The markets are also hopeful that the government will go ahead and amend the mining act through ordinance route soon.

Healthy buying was observed in capital goods, consumer durables and healthcare stocks , while heavy selling pressure was seen in oil and gas, metal and automobile scrip.

The sensitive index of the S&P BSE, which opened at 27,478.30 points, was trading at 27,327.63 points (12.40 p.m.) -- down 68.10 points or 0.25 percent -- from the previous day's close at 27,395.73 points.

The Sensex has touched a record high of 27,478.30 points and a low of 27,312.29 points in the trade so far.

The S&P capital goods index surged 132.22 points, consumer durables index was up 98.17 points and healthcare index was higher by 48.20 points. However, oil and gas index lost 129.29 points, metal index moved lower by 123.20 points and automobile index inched down by 69.80 points.

The wider 50-scrip Nifty of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) was also trading flat. It was marginally down 13.25 points or 0.16 percent at 8,233.05 points.