KUALA LUMPUR (Feb 16): Top Glove Corp Bhd has continued its share buyback by purchasing 8.08 million more shares in the open market today.

In a bourse filing, the glove maker said it bought the shares at between RM6.05 and RM6.15, for a total of RM49.27 million.

This is its second share buyback this year, after the group re-engaged in purchases of its shares on Feb 10, spending RM3.69 million to buy back 600,700 shares in the open market at RM6.15 per share.

With this, Top Glove has spent RM52.96 million in share buybacks this year.

The last time the glove maker had engaged in a share buyback prior to this year was on Dec 14, 2020, when it spent RM3.63 million on 576,900 shares. In December alone, share buyback activity cost Top Glove RM123.5 million.

Today’s buyback comes as Top Glove’s share price declined further on news that Malaysia’s Covid-19 vaccination roll out is set to begin soon, with the first batch of the vaccines scheduled to arrive this weekend..

The counter closed 11 sen or 1.78% lower at RM6.06 today, for a market capitalisation of RM49.71 billion.

The stock has fallen by almost 2% since its last share buyback exercise on Feb 10, when the price was at RM6.15. The stock has fallen 14% from RM7.05 at the beginning of February.

In a separate filing, Top Glove said the Employees Provident Fund had acquired 2.09 million new shares in Top Glove. This raises the fund’s stake in the glove maker to 5.72%.