The government’s sale of its 5 per cent shareholding in SAIL was subscribed 3.6 times on its opening day on Thursday.

Enthused by the response, the government decided to exercise the greenshoe option of another 20.65 crore shares, or 5 per cent of the total equity.

Over 74.74 crore shares were sought by non-retail investors at the close of trading hours, stock exchange data showed. The shares sought were 362 per cent of the overall issue size and nearly 413 per cent of the shares reserved for non-retail investors who were supposed to make bids on the opening day of the offer. Of the bids, 37.46 crore put in 100 per cent margin money.

Tech stocks down

Shares of IT majors got a beating on the bourses on Thursday despite strong third-quarter numbers and upbeat guidance shared by the managements of Infosys and Wipro on Thursday.

Shares of Infosys closed at Rs 1,370.60, a decline of 1.23 per cent, on the BSE.

The Wipro stock tumbled 6 per cent to Rs 431 during the day. Later, it settled at Rs 454.45, lower by 0.94 per cent, on the BSE. Shares of HCL Tech fell 2.63 per cent to Rs 1,027.75 on the bourses.