KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 11): Top Glove Corp Bhd shares rose as much as 19 sen or 3.42% to RM5.74 so far today on bargain hunting and after the company said yesterday there is absolutely no forced overtime (OT) on its workers.

Today, Top Glove shares were traded at RM5.65 at 10:32am with some three million units transacted. Investors bargain hunted for Top Glove shares today after the stock closed down 35 sen yesterday at RM5.55.

Top Glove shares fell yesterday after Reuters reported that Britain is launching an investigation into medical gloves used by its health service after a Thomson Reuters Foundation exposé found stocks from Malaysia could be tainted by the mistreatment of migrant workers at the world's biggest glovemaker.

It was reported that the health ministry said it would investigate standards at Top Glove — which makes rubber gloves sold to Britain's National Health Service — after the exposé found some migrants working illegal OT to pay off debts.

In response, Top Glove told Bursa Malaysia yesterday: "Measures to prevent OT in excess of the allowed 104 hours a month have been implemented on a staggered basis across all Top Glove factories between March 2018 and November 2018. By December 2018, workers will not be working in excess of the 104-hour limit as permitted by the labour law."

Today, AmInvestment Bank Bhd analyst Nafisah Azmi said it maintained its "buy" call for Top Glove shares with an unchanged fair value of RM6.52. "We are unperturbed by the latest development. We believe the company has adequately addressed the issues raised in its announcement to Bursa Malaysia last night," Nafisah wrote in a note.