KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian glove makers were the target of frenzied buying by investors on Wednesday following news the US will more than triple tariffs on gloves from Chinese manufacturers.
Over the duration of the morning session, the heavy turnover seen in the trading stock of glove manufacturers put them among the Exchange’s most active counters.
Charting the highest traded volume on Bursa Malaysia, Top Glove jumped 25 sen to RM1.21 on the back of 369.08 million shares done.
Supermax was in the runner-up spot, rising 16.5 sen to RM1.03 on 210.47 million shares changing hands, while Careplus rounded out the Top 3, gaining seven sen to 27.5 sen on 178.33 million shares.
Hartalega , up 78 sen to RM3.74, was also a leading active with 56.5 million shares crossing, while Kossan rose 41 sen to RM2.79 with 35.51 million shares done.
Investors are turning bullish on Malaysian glove makers following reports that the US administration will raise tariffs on Chinese rubber gloves from 7.5% to 25% in 2026. The increased duties are expected to make it costlier for Chinese manufacturers, which are the biggest rivals of Malaysian companies in the export of rubber gloves.
At the end of the early session on Wednesday, the FBM KLCI was little changed as investors awaited the release of a key US consumer inflation report tonight.
At 12.30pm, the main index was down 0.25 points to 1,605.63, reflecting investor caution ahead of global economic developments and the ongoing corporate earnings period.
During the session, 548 stocks dipped into the red while 499 gained and 440 were unchanged. Share turnover was 3.68 billion valued at RM2.57bil.
Meanwhile, Sin-Kung Logistics edged up one sen to 14 sen on its debut on the ACE Market. Shares in the transport services provider had opened for trading unchanged from the initial public offering price of 13 sen a share.
Technology stocks were also seeing some positive price action after the Nasdaq hit a record level overnight. Greatec rose 16 sen to RM4.69, Unisem gained nine sen to RM3.99 and Vitrox rose 15 sen to RM7.60.
In regional markets, the sentiment was mostly cautious given anxiety over the impending release of the US consumer price index report for April.
China’s composite index dropped 0.17% to 3,140 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng shed 0.22% to 19,073. and Singapore Straits Times index slid 0.54% to 3,295.
Japan’s Nikkei was 0.18% higher at 38,426.