AN employee of Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. walks down a hall past a replica of a company vessel in its Seoul headquarters in this 2003 photo. South Korea’s second-largest shipping line, fell by the most in almost a month in Seoul following a report that South Korea’s financial watchdog is probing allegations of stock manipulation. Hyundai Merchant fell 9.2 percent to 42,300 won as of 12:17 p.m. Wednesday on the Seoul stock exchange after dropping as much as 10.1 percent. --Bloomberg

SEOUL—Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea’s second-largest shipping line, fell by the most in almost a month in Seoul following a report that South Korea’s financial watchdog is probing allegations of stock manipulation.

Hyundai Merchant fell 9.2 percent to 42,300 won as of 12:17 p.m. on the Seoul stock exchange after dropping as much as 10.1 percent, compared with a 1-percent drop in the benchmark Kospi index.

The Maeil Business Newspaper reported Wednesday that the country’s Financial Supervisory Service is investigating possible manipulation after shares at the shipping line surged from April to May. The government agency’s spokesman Douglas Kim declined to comment on the report Wednesday in Seoul via telephone.

“The reports won’t be positive for the investors’ short-term sentiment,” said Jee Heon Seok, an analyst at NH Investment & Securities Co. in Seoul. Jee rates Hyundai Merchant “market perform.”

Hyundai Merchant asked the financial agency to investigate whether there are any illegal activities related to its stock movement, the shipping company said May 31 in a regulatory filing. The company hasn’t heard back from the government, Kim Hong In, a company spokesman, said Wednesday in Seoul by telephone. The stock rose more than twofold to 47,500 won at the end of May from 21,850 won at the close trading in March.

Hyundai Merchant has more than doubled this year compared with the Kospi index’s 27-percent gain. (Bloomberg)

Probe cuts Hyundai shares

SEOUL—Hyundai Merchant Marine Co., South Korea’s second-largest shipping line, fell by the most in almost a month in Seoul following a report that South Korea’s financial watchdog is probing allegations of stock manipulation.

SEOUL—STX Pan Ocean Co., South Korea’s largest carrier of commodities, may raise 590.1 billion won ($630 million) in the biggest stock sale by a dry-bulk operator, two people familiar with the matter said.

SINGAPORE—The gross output of China marine sector reached RMB 1.13 trillion in the first half of 2007, up 13.5 percent compared with that of the same period of last year, and it accounted for 10.62 percent of the total GDP figure, said in the semiyearly report by the State Oceanic Administration on Tuesday.

LONDON—Goldenport Holdings Inc., the first Greek shipowner to list shares on the London Stock Exchange, said first-half profit climbed 49 percent on higher demand for commodity carriers. Its stock rose to a record.