KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 14): Shares in printed circuit boards manufacturer PNE PCB Bhd fell as much as 17.46% to its intraday low of 52 sen in early trade today, in tandem with the negative performance across glove counters after JP Morgan issued a report saying that demand for gloves will likely continue to ease.

The counter was the most active counter traded on Bursa Malaysia this morning, with 190.75 million shares traded -- 41 times higher compared to its 200-day average trading volume of 4.62 million shares.

JP Morgan, which had initiated coverage on the Malaysian rubber glove sector with a "sell" call last month, told investors that gloves are “not needed” while administering vaccinations.

"With vaccinations now underway, we expect demand for gloves to continue to ease,” wrote JP Morgan in a research note dated Jan 11. 

This is in contrast to consensus expectation that demand for disposable rubber gloves will not shrink sharply as frontliners still need them during vaccinations.

At noon break, PNE PCB's share price pared some of its earlier losses to settle at 52.5 sen, still down 16.67% from its previous close, bringing a market capitalisation of RM185.96 million. It failed to react to news of the company appointing AE Multi Holdings Bhd to set up a glove production facility yesterday. 

PNE PCB saw its share price surge 54.55% to close at its peak of 85 sen on Jan 8, a day after it announced its venture into the rubber glove manufacturing and distribution space. The stock's price has risen 119% over the past year from 24 sen.

Meanwhile, gloves stocks like Hartalega Holdings Bhd, Supermax Corp Bhd, Top Glove Corp Bhd and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd were among the top losers this morning.

Hartalega, the second top decliner, saw its share price lose 64 sen or 4.92% to RM12.36, valuing it at RM43.12 billion. A total of 3.86 million shares were traded. 

The fourth top decliner Supermax shrank 5.63% to RM6.71, with 20.58 million shares exchanging hands. 

Top Glove fell 4.07% to RM6.36, with 27.89 million shares done, while Kossan declined 5.58% to RM4.23 and 9.82 million shares were traded. Both Top Glove and Kossan were ranked seventh and eighth in the top decliners by value list.