KUALA LUMPUR (July 16): Top Glove Corp Bhd's share price fell below RM20 in Bursa Malaysia afternoon trades today, while its Singapore-listed shares dropped 9% after the company confirmed the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) had yesterday placed a detention order on disposable gloves manufactured by two of its subsidiaries, namely Top Glove Sdn Bhd and TG Medical Sdn Bhd.

At Bursa today, Top Glove's share price fell RM2.10 or 9.63% at 3:30pm to RM19.70, with some 27 million shares traded. Top Glove was Bursa's top decliner.

In Singapore, Top Glove's share price was down 67 cents or 9.18% at S$6.63 at 4:11pm.

Interestingly and coincidentally at Bursa, the exchange operator and regulator said in a statement today, trading across the bourse was halted at 3:30pm today due to a technical issue.
 
"We are currently diagnosing the problem and will communicate with all our participants, while we determine the cause and impact. We will notify all relevant parties as soon as the issue has been resolved," Bursa said.

Top Glove's share trades in Malaysia and Singapore resumed at 3:30pm today, following a suspension during lunch break in conjunction with the detention order announcement.

In similar statements to Bursa and the Singapore bourse today, Top Glove said it is reaching out to the CBP through the glove producer's office in the US, besides the company's customers and consultants, to understand the issue better and work towards a speedy resolution on the matter within an estimated two weeks.

Investors sold Top Glove shares today, as the news hit market sentiment after they took into account the North America region, comprising Canada and the US, is a crucial market for the company.

The North America region accounted for the largest share or 27% of Top Glove's sales volume during financial year ended Aug 31, 2019 (FY19), according to the company's latest annual report.

For FY19, Top Glove said its rubber glove sales volume in North America rose 20.3% from a year earlier, although the quantity sold was not specified.

Today, theedgemarkets.com's telephone call to Top Glove executive director Lim Cheong Guan went unanswered. Lim had also not responded to the news portal's queries via WhatsApp at the time of writing.

Read also:
Top Glove products placed on US customs detention list 
Top Glove confirms US detention order on gloves manufactured by subsidiaries 
Heavy selldown on Top Glove in Singapore after news on US detention order