KUALA LUMPUR: Hartalega Holdings Bhd and Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd, two of the world's largest rubber glove makers, saw their intra-day short-selling (IDSS) suspended today after their share prices dropped to multiple month lows.

Hartalega fell as much as 79 sen, or 23.2 per cent to close at RM2.61, its lowest since Sept 11 last year, after reporting a 12.8 per cent net profit fall for the third quarter ended Dec 31, 2024.

The company's market capitalisation stood at RM8.95 billion.

This prompted Bursa Malaysia to suspend Hartalega's IDSS for the rest of the day.

The stock saw some 93.79 million shares changing hands, significantly higher than its four-week average volume of 3.50 million shares.

Kossan Rubber shrank 16.17 per cent or 38 sen to RM1.97, the lowest since Oct 7 last year. This also prompted Bursa to suspend its IDSS.

Malacca Securities Sdn Bhd said the healthcare sector experienced a significant decline today as Hartalega's net profit fell short of market expectations, dampening sentiment for glove stocks.

A financial portal said the market sell-off was triggered shortly after Hartalega's earnings conference call which ended at 3.30pm, with large funds seen selling off their positions.

During the call, Hartalega provided a lacklustre outlook for the rest of the year, dampening investor sentiment, the portal said, quoting an analyst.

For the cumulative nine-month period, Hartalega posted a net profit of RM60.06 million, up a net loss of RM2.39 million a year ago. This was on the back of a 51 per cent increase in revenue to RM1.97 billion from RM1.31 billion in the same period in 2024.

The weaker guidance reportedly was due to US customers front-loading their orders in the fourth quarter of calendar year 2024, which is expected to result in lower sales volumes for the first quarter of 2025.