Rio Tinto announced an all-cash $2.7 billion proposal to buy Turquoise Hill Resources
Rio Tinto plc (NYSE:RIO) announced an all-cash $2.7 billion proposal today to buy the 49% of Canada's mining name Turquoise Hill Resources (TRQ) it does not yet hold. The deal is a 32% premium to TRQ's Friday close, and could soon make Rio Tinto the owner of the Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mining project in Mongolia. At last check, RIO is down 2.5% to trade at $70.89.
A familiar floor at the $70 mark is containing the equity's pullback from a rally to the $84 area -- its highest level since August. The shares still have support at the 80-day moving average, which has been in place since December. Year-over-year, though, RIO is down 10.6%.
The options pits are firmly bullish. Over at the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Cboe Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), the equity's 10-day call/put volume ratio of 13.42 stands higher than all but 2% of readings from the past 12 months. This suggests calls have been picked up at much faster-than-usual pace.
Options bears are blasting Rio Tinto stock today, though. Already, 1,534 puts have been exchanged, or double what is typically seen at this point. Most popular is the April 79.38 call, followed by the March 69.38 put, the latter of which expires at the end of the week.
Lastly, the stock's Schaeffer's Volatility Scorecard (SVS) sits at a 94 out of 100. This means the security has exceeded option traders' volatility expectations during the past calendar year.