Which shares topped ASX 200 (ASX:XJO) trading volumes on Wednesday

Pilbara Minerals saw a hefty day of trade today.

Sebastian Bowen

Author Bio Sebastian Bowen has been a Motley Fool contributor since late 2018. Sebastian found his passion for writing and educating others about shares and all things finance after completing his studies in political, economic and social science and enjoys bringing this passion to life at the Fool. His investment philosophy is a simple one – buying high-quality companies at prices that make sense. When he’s not researching his next investment at all hours of the morning, Sebastian enjoys classic movies and likes to unwind with a good book, newspaper or record. Areas of Expertise Dividend investing ETFs Education Bachelor of Political, Economic, and Social Sciences (Government and International Relations), University of Sydney Social Media X/Twitter Favorite Investment Quote "In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run, it is a weighing machine." – Benjamin Graham

Published August 18, 2021 5:12 pm AEST

The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) has had a rather flat day of trading this Wednesday. By today's market close, the ASX 200 had slid 0.12% to 7,502.1 points.

With such an uninteresting move for the index today, let's instead dive into some of the ASX 200 shares that are experiencing the heaviest trading volumes and see what we can find.

Group of friends trading stocks on their phones. symbolising the 3 most traded ASX 200 shares today — Image source: Getty Images

3 ASX 200 shares that topped trading volumes on Wednesday

Scentre Group (ASX: SCG)

ASX real estate investment trust (REIT) Scentre Group is our first ASX 200 share to check out today. This Wednesday has seen a healthy 22.4 million Scentre units swap hands. There's no real news, announcements or other catalysts we can point to today to explain this move.

However, the Scentre unit price surged a little in afternoon trade. The Scentre share price closed the day up 1.19% to $2.56 a unit. It might be this positive move (in defiance of the ASX 200 too) that sparked a high volume of trading with this company today.

BHP Group Ltd (ASX: BHP)

The 'Big Australian' makes the list today with a solid 25.7 million BHP shares changing hands. A top ASX 200 miner, BHP has seen a sharp reaction to the release of its FY21 earnings report after market close yesterday evening.

BHP shares fell sharply on open this morning, and closed the day down a substantial 7.07% to $47.70 at the time of writing. It's almost certainly this large share price slide that is behind the high volume of BHP shares traded today. Especially considering BHP's sheer size, as well as the magnitude of today's share price drop.

Pilbara Minerals Ltd (ASX: PLS)

ASX 200 lithium producer Pilbara, which regularly appears on this list, came in at the top today, with a hefty 38.7 million shares changing hands. Again, there is no real news or developments we can point to here.

But the Pilbara share price has come under a lot of pressure over the past week or so, having lost around 13% since last Wednesday. It has also dropped a nasty 3.18% just today, which is probably the reason why we saw an elevated trading volume.

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