KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 9): Kossan Rubber Industries Bhd saw its share price gained 18 sen or 3.81% to RM4.90 as at 3:41pm today, with 1.15 million shares traded.

An analyst familiar with Kossan attributed the share price gains to the company ramping up the capacity at its newly built plant in Meru, which is running at a utilisation rate of over 80%.

A report released four days ago by Hong Leong Investment Bank (HLIB) Research suggested that a recent flu outbreak in the US could catalyse local rubber stocks again although the impact of the outbreak is still not readily known for the moment.

“We view this unfortunate development to be positive to the sector as higher hospitalisation rate and higher demand for healthcare services will, in turn, increase demand for rubber gloves,” said its analyst Tan Sing Zou.

Tan maintains a “neutral” call on the sector for the moment and said that the investment bank will continue to monitor the development of the flu outbreak. Tan had placed a “hold” call on Kossan with a target price of RM4.49.

Reuters reported on Monday that flu is widespread in 43 U.S states and six children had died from the flu during the last full week in December bringing total flu deaths toll to 21 this season.

It added that in the latest report by the Centre for Disease Control, flu hospitalisations had reached 12.6 per 100,000 for all ages.

Comparatively, the rate was 5.8 per 100,000 in the last season and in 2012, while in the most recent season dominated by H2N3, the rate was 8.1.