KUALA LUMPUR (May 19): Share prices of rubber glove makers including Top Glove Corp Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd and Hartalega Holdings Bhd spiked during Bursa Malaysia afternoon trade today in an apparent reaction to Malaysia's announcement that the country's daily number of newly confirmed Covid-19 cases rose to a record high of 6,075 today.

At 4.34pm, Hartalega rose 36 sen or 3.77% to RM9.91, Supermax was up 36 sen or 7.76% at RM5 while Top Glove climbed 14 sen or 2.62% to RM5.48.

Glove manufacturers' share prices have been closely watched against the global Covid-19 pandemic on expectation that the outbreak will lead to higher demand for gloves, hence, stronger earnings for these companies.

The impact from the rises in glove maker share prices on the broader market was apparent today as Bursa's Health Care index, which tracks share prices of companies including glove manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies, was the sole gainer among the 29 bourse indices.

At 4.38pm, the Health Care index rose 59.81 points or 1.88% to 3,233.48.

At a glance today, share prices of glove manufacturers started rising from about 3pm when Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said in a Twitter update that Malaysia's newly confirmed Covid-19 cases rose to a record high of 6,075 today from 4,865 yesterday.

Today, Dr Noor Hisham said Selangor recorded the highest number of daily newly confirmed Covid-19 infected individuals with 2,251.