Telco, which had hit its 10-year low at Rs 92 a few months back, recovered smartly to Rs 140 after Tata Sons hiked their stake by two per cent in the company. The announcement of acquisition of another three per cent stake comes when more and more positive news is flowing into the counter. The roll-out of the small car provided the much needed trigger point for the stock to move in the northward direction.

Reflecting the increasing institutional participation at the counter, the scrip rose by over 8 per cent to be locked at the day's highest price of Rs 152.50. During the day the stock was tradedin the band of Rs 144.10 and Rs 152.50, the intra-day's low and high respectively, amidst huge volumes of 48.47 lakh shares traded on the BSE. On the BSE a cross deal of 10,000 was reported at a discount of Rs 0.50 to the the market price.

It is learnt that among the FIIs, Morgan Stanley broking and Socgen Crosby placed huge chunks of purchase orders at the counter, which were essentially in the form of warehoused deals. However, this could not be confirmed.

Interestingly, while the stock was locked at the upper limit of the price band a huge outstanding buy order of over 1.64 lakh shares was registered at the counter. The stock further appreciated by over 1 per cent during early kerb trades to be quoted at Rs 155 against the official closing of Rs 152.50. The GDR also registered a marginal gain of $ 0.30, to be traded at $ 3.62 (two shares is equal to one GDR). After the completion of the proposed hike of stake in Telco by another five per cent, Tatas will be the first corporate to have used the relaxedSebi norms for acquisition of shares through the creeping acquisition route.

With Telco's current equity of over Rs 255 crore, Tatas will be picking up close to 77 lakh shares from the market through the creeping acquisition route. Apart from Telco, Tata Sons has already picked up two per cent stake in Tisco through the creeping acquisition route. Although the Tatas have shown their intentions to up their stake in ACC to 20 per cent also, financial institutions have raised objectios and a final decision is yet to be taken.