South Korea's stock exchange will begin a review next week to examine if executives of Hyundai Motor may have used undisclosed information to trade shares following reports of a tie-up with Apple, an exchange spokeswoman said.
Shares of Hyundai jumped 21% between its initial confirmation of talks on autonomous vehicles between the two firms and an announcement last week that the talks were off.
Earlier on Wednesday, top financial regulator Eun Sung-soo, the chairman of the Financial Services Commission (FSC), told a parliament committee the exchange review could begin next week.
"Reviews are to examine whether there is any suspicion (of wrongdoing) or not," the spokeswoman told Reuters by telephone, adding, "The length of such reviews varies with each case, and the exchange will communicate findings to the FSC."
Hyundai did not have an immediate comment when reached by Reuters.
In a filing last week, the company said it was not in talks with Apple on autonomous vehicles, just a month after having confirmed early-stage talks with the tech giant.
Since the Jan. 8 initial domestic media report of their cooperation, 12 Hyundai executives traded about 3,400 shares, worth about 833 million won ($753,000), according to Reuters calculations based on the company's regulatory filings.
($1=1,106.14 won)
(Reporting by Joyce Lee and Heekyong Yang; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
