GLOVE STOCKS RISE TO NEW HIGH TODAY; ANZO JOINS THE BANDWAGON
Shares in Top Glove Corp Bhd, Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd and Supermax Corp Bhd reached new all-time highs today, buoyed by sustained demand for rubber gloves and new orders coming in.
Newcomers in the glove industry like Anzo Holdings Bhd also saw its share price rise to its highest in three years to close the day at 23 sen.
The United States (US), the world's largest economy recorded 39,379 new coronavirus cases in 24 hours on Sunday (today in Malaysia), the fourth consecutive day of surging numbers of new infections, including a high of 57,683 on Friday.
The total number of cases in the US now stands at 2,876,143, as infections continue to trend up around the country.
The US also recorded 234 new fatalities, bringing the total death toll in the country to 129,891.
The US as we know, is the hardest-hit country in the global pandemic, besides India and the UK.
According to worldometers, the number of coronavirus cases around the world as at July 6, 2020, is a staggering 11.57 million while total deaths are 537,045.
While this is disturbing, the glove-making industry is striving for all the right reasons, which is to make and supply protective equipment, including face masks and medical gloves.
The share prices of glove manufacturers in Malaysia have performed very well since the outbreak of the disease reflecting the apparent relentless demand for gloves amid a resurgence in global Covid-19 infections.
Top Glove's and Supermax's share prices jumped higher today because of the increasing number of global Covid-19 infections which has resulted in expectations of higher demand for rubber gloves and stronger earnings for glove manufacturers.
Top Glove's share price increased as much as RM1.50 or 8.13 per cent to its record high of RM19.96 sen today while Supermax rose 95 sen or 10.10 per cent to its all-time high of RM10.36.
Shares of Hartalega and Kossan also rose to a record high today.
Anzo saw a total of 349 million shares traded today. The stock went up to as high as 24 sen before closing the day at 23 sen, which is also 5 sen higher than last Friday's traded price of 18 sen.
The company announced last week that it is buying a factory in Manjung, Perak which is able to produce up to 1.2 billion pieces of medical gloves or nitrile gloves per annum, estimated to worth around RM400 million.
Anzo can easily increase production from the current 9 lines (1.2 billion pieces a year) to about 12 or 15 production lines to make more than 2 billion pieces of medical gloves a year.
It was reported that Anzo has already received orders for its medical gloves from Japan and China.
A research house remained bullish on gloves for the second half of the year, given the increasing demand for rubber gloves and that average selling prices (ASPs) are expected to continue rising until the first half of next year.
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