KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 6): Shares of glove manufacturers rallied on Monday in active trade amid reports of new virus infections in China, though authorities have downplayed the infections as seasonal winter peak.

Top Glove Corporation Bhd (KL:TOPGLOV), the country’s largest by volume, climbed as much as 7.5%, while Hartalega Holdings Bhd (KL:HARTA) rose more than 2%, and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd (KL:KOSSAN) was up about 3%.

At Monday's market close, Top Glove pared some of its gains to end the day up three sen or 2.26% at RM1.36, while Hartalega was still up more than 2% at RM3.95. Kossan, on the other hand, was only up by 0.5 sen or 1.8% at RM2.83.

“The seasonal influenza cases would not lead to a surge in glove demand inside and outside of China,” said MIDF Amanah Investment Bank. Even if the outbreak becomes prevalent, Malaysian glove manufacturers may not benefit, as their Chinese rivals would have the capacity, it said.

In a note on Monday, the research house pointed out that the news on the potential outbreak of Human Metapneumovirus (HMPV) “coincidentally” took place with the commencement of steep increase in tariff for China-made gloves to the US from 2025 onwards.     

To recall, the US raised its tariff against China-made medical gloves from 7.5% in 2024 to 50% in 2025 and 100% in 2026.    

The research house added, the potential outbreak is still not a cause for concern, and maintained a 'neutral' stance on the glove sector.  

While China has reported experiencing a surge in infections of a respiratory virus, the Union health ministry mentioned that there is no substantial increase in the number of cases of viral respiratory illnesses in the country in December 2024.  

MIDF noted that since the virus has been circulating for some time, it seems that there is more herd immunity against it compared to a novel virus such as the Covid-19 coronavirus at the beginning of the pandemic.

According to Cleveland Clinics, HMPV was discovered in 2001 with symptoms like that of common cold, including cough, fever, stuffy or runny nose, sore throat, wheezing, shortness of breath and rashes.   

The virus can also cause complications like bronchiolitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, asthma or an ear-infection and spreads via droplets from coughing, sneezing, human contact and touching surfaces and objects contaminated with the virus.  

Children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are more prone to the virus.   

Based on data, influenza is leading the outbreak with 30.2% testing positive while HMPV is only linked to 6.2% of the respiratory illness tests.   

Locally, 327 cases of HMPV were detected in 2024, an increase of 45.3% year-over-year.