Tata Steel: Blowing hot

STOCK IN THE NEWS

Tata Steel reacted sharply after the company announced the acquisition of Corus at 608 pence a share. The market price of Tata Steel declined 9 per cent to close at 462.95. Trading volume was brisk on both the NSE and the BSE with 63.93 lakh shares valued at Rs 3,033 crore changing hands. In the derivatives segment, Tata Steel melted on selling pressure.

Operators hammered the stock, down 10 per cent from Rs 519.30 on January 29 to Rs 467.95 next day. Open interest increased from 16.92 million shares on January 29 to 21.86 million shares on the day of announcement of Corus acquisition.

The OI increased further to 26.44 million shares on February 2, indicating that operators have created short positions and there may be a further fall in the market value of Tata Steel in the coming days. Tata Steel won the battle for acquiring Anglo-Dutch steelmaker Corus Group by agreeing to pay 5.75 billion pounds ($11.3 billion).

The company has agreed to offer Corus' investors 608 pence per share in cash, topping a final bid of 603 pence from Brazilian CSN. Both offers were at the top end of analysts' expectations.