SAIL's share auction covered 98 percent

MUMBAI (Reuters) - An auction of a 5.8 percent stake in state-run Steel Authority of India Ltd was nearly fully covered on Friday, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange showed.

The government was selling 240.4 million shares in the company at a minimum bid price of 63 rupees per share.

At 3.30 p.m., the single-day auction had received bids for 235.3 million shares, or 98 percent of the shares on offer, at an indicative weighted average price of 63.07 rupees per share.

Final bid numbers will be available later on Friday.

(Reporting by Prashant Mehra; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)