KUALA LUMPUR (April 10): Trading volume of Karex Bhd's shares, the world's largest condom maker, surged to 33.74 million this morning, making it the fifth most active counter on Bursa Malaysia.

At 10.54am, the stock pared some of its gains and was up four sen or 8.5% to 51 sen. This brings its market capitalisation to RM511.2 million.

The counter fell by 40% from its share price of 79 sen 12 months ago.

It is interesting to note that at this level, it exceeds its 200-day average volume of 3.53 million shares.

Some say the interest in Karex could be due to speculation that the company might be a takeover target of glovemaker Top Glove Corp Bhd, which is said to be on the lookout for mergers and acquisitions for its condom manufacturing business.

Top Glove shares, on the other hand, were down one sen or 0.2% to RM4.58 at 10.51am, valuing the company at RM11.73 billion.

To recap, Top Glove — the world's largest glovemaker — began production of its own condom range in July 2018.

Karex said rumour that the company may be a takeover target of Top Glove is not true because there is no disclosure by any potential acquirer to Bursa Malaysia on the matter.

“To the best of our knowledge, we are not aware of any truth to this rumour,” a Karex spokesman told theedgemarkets.com.

“However, should any corporation wish to acquire a substantial position in Karex, they would have to be subjected to the typical disclosure requirements that are set by Bursa Malaysia and as far as we know, no disclosure has been submitted for announcement,” the spokesman said.

The spokesman said Karex aims to stay in the condom manufacturing business in the long run and there is no intention to divest the business.

Likewise, Top Glove's managing director Datuk Lee Kim Meow brushed off the rumours. "We are not aware of such rumours involving Top Glove," Lee said when contacted.