The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) isn't having a great day this Thursday so far. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is down 0.27% to 7,366 points after falling as low as 7,341 points earlier this morning.
So let's take a look at the ASX 200 shares that are being the most actively traded today:
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The 3 most active ASX 200 shares today
South32 Ltd (ASX: S32)
Fresh from making the most traded shares on Tuesday, diversified ASX 200 miner South32 is once again finding itself being heavily traded today as well. At the time of writing, a hefty 14.46 million shares have swapped hands today. This follows a not-insignificant fall in the South32 share price – it's down 1.4% today to $2.82 a share.
As we noted earlier in the week, South32 has been buying back its own shares quite consistently in recent times. So there is a chance that some of these 14.46 million shares were picked up by the company itself today.
Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX: TLS)
Telstra is another ASX blue-chip share that is bouncing around the ASX 200 boards today. It actually makes this list for the fourth trading day in a row. In fact, a substantial 16.94 million Telstra shares have changed hands this Thursday. That may be the result of the Telstra share price retreating somewhat away from its recent new 52-week high during intra-day trading.
Telstra is currently down 0.98% to $3.54 after hitting $3.61 for the first time in over a year last week. There is no other major news or announcements out of Telstra as of this afternoon.
Whitehaven Coal Ltd (ASX: WHC)
Whitehaven Coal is easily the ASX 200's most active share today, with 19.91 million shares swapping owners so far. We can probably point to the coal miner's substantial 11.18% loss today to $1.81 a share as the catalyst behind this trading activity.
As my Fool colleague Brooke covered earlier this morning, Whitehaven has seemingly disappointed investors with the production guidance it released this morning before market open. Whitehaven now expects its Narrabri mine to produce 4.1 million tonnes of coal in FY21. That's down from the previously flagged 6-6.7 million tonnes. Evidently, investors were not too impressed.
