KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 24): Top Glove Corp Bhd's share price pared gains after rising as much as 58 sen or 7.23% to RM8.60 in Bursa Malaysia's afternoon trading today against a confluence of factors including the rising number of global Covid-19 cases and after the company brought forward its dividend ex and payment dates.
Investors could have also taken cue from Top Glove's announcement that the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) had emerged as a substantial shareholder of the world's largest glove maker by output volume.
At 3.29pm, Top Glove's share price pared gains at RM8.58 with some 73 million shares traded. At RM8.60, Top Glove has a market value of about RM68.71 billion.
Earlier today, Top Glove said in its notice of book closure involving its final dividend of 8.5 sen a share that its securities would be traded and quoted ex-dividend on Oct 19, 2020 instead of the previously annnounced ex-date on Nov 17, 2020.
Top Glove said in the book closure notice, which was filed with Bursa today, that Top Glove had also decided to bring forward the final dividend's entitlement and payment dates.
According to Top Glove, it has brought forward the entitlement date from Nov 18, 2020 to Oct 20, 2020 while the payment date has been brought forward from Dec 1, 2020 to Nov 3, 2020.
"In line with the board's decision to make a quarterly dividend payment for FY21 (financial year 2021 ending Aug 31, 2021) and for better cash flow planning purpose, the board has decided to bring forward the final dividend entitlement and payment dates, i.e. from Nov 18, 2020 to Oct 20, 2020 (entitlement date) and from Dec 1, 2020 to Nov 3, 2020 (payment date) respectively."
Yesterday, Top Glove said in a Bursa filing that the EPF had on Friday (Sept 18) emerged as a substantial shareholder with a 5.051% stake comprising 410.7 million shares in Top Glove.
Globally, it was reported that a second wave of Covid-19 infections in Europe has raised concerns on global economic recovery. Such sentiment had influenced commodity and currency trading dynamics.
It was reported that crude oil prices dropped on Thursday, weighed down by concerns that US economic recovery is slowing as the coronavirus outbreak lingers, while a renewed wave of Covid-19 cases in Europe has led to reimposed travel restrictions in several countries.
"The jitters over demand and economic outlook due to the coronavirus resurgence have prompted a rally in the US dollar as investors turned to safer assets, adding pressure to oil prices. A stronger dollar makes oil, priced in US dollars, less attractive to global buyers," Reuters reported.
https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/epf-stake-buoys-top-gloves-rise-covid19-cases-climb
