The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is having a rather flat start to the trading week this week. At the time of writing, the ASX 200 is currently up a paltry 0.02% to 7,309.6 points. So let's take a look at some of the ASX 200 shares that are proving popular today in terms of sheer trading volume.
3 ASX 200 shares that are making moves today
South32 Ltd (ASX: S32)
Diversified ASX 200 miner South32 is proving a popular share on the share market today, with 9.81 million shares having traded hands so far. There has been no major news or announcements out of the company today that might prompt an uptick in trading volume. Apart from a daily share buy-back notice, which is possibly contributing. However, South32 shares are currently defying the broader market's gloom, and are up 1.37% at the time of writing. As we covered last week, South32 has also been a beneficiary of some attention from brokers recently, which might also be helping.
Qantas Airways Limited (ASX: QAN)
The Flying Kangaroo is also, well, flying on the ASX boards today. This ASX 200 share has seen a bumper 12.79 million shares change hands today so far. Unlike South32 though, this might be the result of a share price slump from the airline today. At the time of writing, Qantas shares are down a nasty 4.33% to $4.52 a share after falling close to 6% earlier in the trading day. We can probably blame the COVID/lockdown situation in Sydney and other parts of the country for this malaise. Other ASX travel-related shares have seen similar moves today.
Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)
Yet again, Pilbara Minerals is starting the week off where it spent most of last week – at the top of the ASX 200's most traded shares list. A hefty 14.06 million Pilbara shares have traded so far today. Like Qantas, this may be the result of a substantial fall in the value of Pilbara shares themselves today. Currently, Pilbara Minerals is down 3.57% to $1.43 a share after making a new all-time high of $1.60 a share last week. As my Fool colleague Brooke covered earlier, there's not much in the way of major news or announcements out of Pilbara so far today. So this move might just be driven by market sentiment.
