KUALA LUMPUR (Oct 16): Top Glove Corp Bhd rose as much as 37 sen or 6% after the company proposed a dividend of 8.5 sen a share and reported that fourth quarter net profit rose from a year earlier.

Top Glove shares rose to their highest so far today at RM6.38. At 10:15am, The counter was traded at RM6.27 with some three million shares traded. Top Glove was Bursa Malaysia's leading gainer.

On Friday, Top Glove proposed a final dividend of 8.5 sen a share, which requires shareholders' approval at the company's annual general meeting.

The rubber glove manufacturer also reported that net profit rose to RM98.62 million in the fourth quarter ended Aug 31, 2017 (4QFY17) from RM65.32 million a year earlier. Full-year net profit, however, fell to RM332.7 million from RM360.73 million.

CIMB Investment Bank Bhd upgraded Top Glove shares to "add" from "hold" with a higher target price of RM6.90 from RM5.75 previously.

"(Top Glove's) FY8/17 core net profit was above, at 104% of ours and 102% of consensus estimates. We raise our FY18-19F EPS forecasts and introduce FY20 estimates," CIMB analyst Walter Aw said.