Flurry of activity in shares of obscure China stock draws authorities' attention

Shanghai

FANGDA Carbon New Material Co isn't typically a name that jumps to mind when one thinks of the world's most actively traded stocks.

Yet for reasons unknown, shares of this obscure Chinese maker of graphite electrodes are suddenly changing hands at a pace usually reserved for the global equity market's crème de la crème.

Last Friday, Fangda Carbon was the 11th most traded common stock in the world, despite a middling US$8.4 billion market capitalisation that failed to crack the global top 1,500. It…