Mumbai: The BSE Sensex and Nifty were trading flat on Tuesday, as weaker regional shares offset optimism over additional reforms a day after the government passed an executive order to ease land-acquisition rules. Monday's announcement could kick-start hundreds of billions of dollars in stalled projects, and comes after separate orders were passed to implement coal and insurance reforms.
Infrastructure stocks gained on the news with Larsen and Toubro adding 1.1 per cent. Lanco Infratech rose 6.7 per cent and GMR Infrastructure was trading 1.5 per cent higher.
However, weak sentiment across the region on a sharp selloff in commodities overnight and political uncertainty in Greece left investors hesitant to take big bets. "The overall outlook is good. The government is moving in the right direction. Investors expect the reform process to continue, which will be a long-term positive for Indian equities," said Suresh Parmar, head, institutional equities at KJMC Capital Markets.
The benchmark Sensex was up 0.03 per cent, while the broader Nifty was trading 0.01 per cent lower.
Godrej Properties gained 5.4 per cent after the company bought back shares held by private equity firm Sun-Apollo, and also announced a new project. Energy firms however fell, with Oil and Natural Gas Corporation losing 1.4 percent and Reliance Industries falling 1.3 per cent after crude prices fell to a five-year low.
