Kuala Lumpur (Feb 5): The shares of Top Glove Corporation Bhd, Karex Bhd and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd fell today as the US dollar declined versus the ringgit.

At the midday break today, Top Glove dipped 1.6% while Karex dropped 3.6% as the US dollar continues to weaken. Kossan also slipped 5.9%.  

JF Apex analyst Nazhatul Shaza said that the glove sector's downtrend was most likely due to the weakened dollar as investors generally traded by sentiment.

As at midday break, Top Glove fell 9 sen to RM5.53 with 5.7 million shares changing hands. Karex's share price was down 14 sen at RM3.79 with a volume of 1.8 million shares. Kossan dropped 41 sen to RM6.59 with 2.6 million shares traded, and Supermax Corporation Bhd lost 2 sen to RM2.95 at the market break.

This was after the news on the agreement among Asia's top rubber producers to cut exports by 615,000 tonnes for six months from March.

Shaza said that previous efforts to curb supply had lifted prices only temporarily.

"The government has been talking about it (boosting consumption and cutting supply to lift rubber price) since 2012 but one thing to note is that rubber price is still largely depend on China market.

"Further, if latex price went up too high, manufacturers will opt for synthetic rubber," she added explaining that the move is neither meaningful nor the factor that caused the glove and condom sector to drop in price today.